The Criminal Assets Bureau is seeking almost £3 million from a north Dublin man, Mr Matthew Kelly, who has been involved in a number of businesses and owns a property portfolio of apartments and commercial premises in the city.
Mr Kelly (52), of Ashington Gardens, Navan Road, Dublin, is contesting the claim and the High Court has heard he had given an undertaking not to reduce his assets beneath £628,000.
The application by the Criminal Assets Bureau comes just a week after it secured a judgment against another Dublin man for £1,753,302 in respect of alleged illicit earnings based on brothel-keeping.
The bureau has also served a demand for an estimated £3.5 million on another north Dublin man. This, too, is expected to come before the High Court shortly.
In September, 1996, the bureau embarked on an application seeking monies and property valued at about £5.7 million from a figure under investigation for the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin.
Another case against two other people, totalling about £3.2 million, brought by the bureau is also before the High Court.
Earlier this month it emerged that the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation is investigating transactions reported by banks and other financial institutions in 1998 worth £123 million.
Mr Kelly has been involved in a number of businesses including carpet-selling, warehousing and property development, based mainly around the city centre and north Dublin in the past 15 years.
The legislation allowing the State to seize assets where there is a suspicion that these are gained from criminal activity was introduced after the murder of Ms Guerin in June 1996.
The bureau has also sought the recovery of unpaid taxes which may eventually run into tens of millions of pounds.
Several appeals have been lodged against demands by the bureau on constitutional and other legal grounds. These are still before the courts.