An Ireland-based Chinese Organised Crime Group has been providing a route for Irish drug traffickers to launder cash generated through a Kinahan cartel-linked criminal, the High Court has heard.
The Kinahan cartel-linked criminal then made the money available to criminals outside of the country, the court heard. A total of 13 members of the Chinese OCG - based in Dublin and Wicklow - have been identified including the leading member of the organisation.
The CAB established the leader was head of the ‘International Controller Network’ in Ireland and was observed in the company of a convicted drug dealer who CAB alleges has historic links with Christy Kinahan Snr. The CAB also established that the Chinese OCG was involved in facilitating, storing and transporting cash on behalf of the convicted drug dealer.
The drug dealer "has historical links to Christy Kinahan Snr and in June 2003 he was arrested in Spain following the seizure of cannabis resin for which he was sentenced to 4 years in prison,” the affidavit by a senior member of the CAB stated. The man was also jailed in Holland in 2007 for possession of a gun, drugs and cash.
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Yesterday, at the High Court, Judge Alexander Owens ordered that a Criminal Assets Bureau receiver take control of a huge sum of money including €235k found in a safe in Merrion Vaults on Dublin’s Burlington Road as well as five cars and high value items including Louis Vuitton handbags and scarves. The high end goods were purchased in Brown Thomas to be exported to China, the court heard
Two alleged members of the Chinese OCG - couple Xiao Xia Zheng and her partner Jian Fei Zheng - attended the High Court hearing where details of their involvement were put to Judge Owens in affidavits by the CAB. A series of raids took place in various locations including Bray and Tallaght by the CAB on June 30, 2020 where cash and assets worth €1,035,093 were seized.
Cash totalling €773,499 was seized including €235k discovered in a safety deposit box at the Merrion Vaults and a further €201,594 funds were frozen in bank accounts and four cars and high value items were also seized.
Ms Zheng, who had access to the Merrion Vault number 3681, claimed in court she was given money by her parents to buy Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) during Covid and tried to open a business account but could not get one. Ms Zheng, who worked in a nursing home and in a takeaway also claimed Louis Vuitton handbags found in her home were “brought into the house by someone I don’t know.”
She also claimed some of the money in her account was from the sale of a restaurant she was involved in and that she sold another car to get €10k to purchase a Nissan Qashqai. She also claimed the money was savings as well money from friends and came from selling the high end goods to China.
In an affidavit by the CAB chief officer Michael Gubbins, the money found in storage and the vault was “cash reserves” required by the gang to work as an underworld banking system. In his judgement, Judge Owens granted the CAB’s application to seize the cash, high value goods and two cars and stated the respondents’ resources “simply do not match the colossal sums of money going through their accounts.”
The judge said all of the money seized represents the proceeds of crime and gave the CAB’s receiver the power to sell the items seized and lodge the cash into the Exchequer bank account The case against the remaining members of the alleged Chinese OCG named in the High Court action by the CAB are expected to go ahead at later dates.
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