Press release
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee publishes Criminal Assets Bureau Annual Report 2022
Published on
Last updated on
Published on
Last updated on
Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has published the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) Annual Report for 2022.
During 2022, the Bureau focused on all crimes involving wealth acquisition and returned in excess of €6.3 million to the Exchequer.
These included seizures of cash, property assets, luxury cars, watches such as Rolex, Breitling and Hublot, and clothes such as Christine Louboutin shoes and Louis Vuitton bags. Further details can be found in the annual report.
In total, for the year 2022, the Bureau denied and deprived criminals of their ill-gotten gains to the sum of €6.359 million, and the value of assets under the new proceeds of crime cases commenced by the Bureau ranged in value from €9,718 to €1,948,147.
Internationally, the Bureau continued to liaise and conduct investigations with law enforcement and judicial authorities throughout Europe and worldwide.
This included extensive cooperation with law enforcement agencies in Northern Ireland, including the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and the National Crime Agency (NCA).
Minister McEntee marked the publication stating:
“The 2022 Annual Report evidences the hard work and dedication of Chief Bureau Officer Mick Gubbins and all of the staff and agencies involved in CAB and I would like to thank them for their ongoing efforts and determination to deprive criminals of the benefits of their illegal activity.
“CAB have continued to build on the excellent work documented in 2021.
“Between 1996 and 2022, CAB denied and deprived criminals of over €210 million of assets that were returned to the Exchequer.
“Of this, €35.5 million was under the proceeds of crime legislation, €169 million was from revenue collections and over €5.8 million in social welfare recoveries.
“In 2021 I established the Community Safety Innovation Fund, which reinvests proceeds of crime returned to the Exchequer by CAB back into communities to fund innovative local projects aimed at building stronger, safer communities.
“I’m delighted that we have been able to increase the size of this fund to €3.75 million under Budget 2024, reflective of the continued success of An Garda Síochána and CAB.
“Putting this money back into the community is a really tangible way of showing that there can be a direct link between the activities of law enforcement and building stronger, safer communities.
“I am also determined to further strengthen the legislation underpinning CAB. Work is ongoing on the General Scheme of the Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Bill 2023, which I hope to bring to Government by the end of the year.”
Minister McEntee noted the important role played by local Divisional Asset Profilers in every Garda division, which are usually trained Gardaí providing information to CAB:
“I was particularly pleased to see CAB refocus its efforts towards strong co-operation with locally trained Divisional Asset Profilers, who are trained by CAB.
“These profilers are the eyes and ears of the Bureau, as they cover every Garda Division, and have first-hand knowledge of criminality in their local areas.
“The Divisional Asset Profiler Network provides the Bureau with an increased reach to all areas throughout the country.
“An additional 37 Divisional Asset Profilers were trained in 2022, and extra training was provided for 130 existing Divisional Asset Profilers.
“At the end of 2022 the total number of Divisional Asset Profilers stood at 572 nationwide. In 2023 the number of Divisional Asset Profilers reached its highest level ever in the organisations history, with over 600.”
The 2022 total included 545 Gardaí; 19 Officers of the Revenue Commissioners engaged in Customs and Excise duties; and 8 Officers of the Department of Social Protection.
The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) is a multi-agency statutory body established under the Criminal Assets Bureau Act 1996. The Bureau’s remit is to target a person's assets, wherever situated, which derive, or are suspected to derive, directly or indirectly, from criminal conduct. Since its inception, the Bureau has been at the forefront of fighting organised crime in this jurisdiction and disrupting the activities of criminal gangs by depriving them of ill-gotten assets.
The Bureau has staff drawn from An Garda Síochána, the Office of the Revenue Commissioners (including Customs), the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Justice.