Seized assets to go to State

Some €170,000 secured by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB)after it seized and sold a house in Artane is to go to the Exchequer…

Some €170,000 secured by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB)after it seized and sold a house in Artane is to go to the Exchequer on foot of a High Court order granted yesterday.

The CAB sought the order under Section Four of the Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) against Mr John Mullen, who now lives in the south-east of England, and his son, Thomas Mullen, who is known as "The Boxer".

Thomas Mullen is serving a 15-year sentence in an English prison for drugs offences.

Det Chief Supt Felix McKenna, the chief bureau officer of the CAB, said in an affidavit that an order was made by the High Court on April 7th, 1997, under Section Three of POCA which prohibited the Mullens, or any person with notice of the making of the order, from disposing or diminishing the value of a property at St David's, Artane, Dublin.

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The bureau's legal officer was appointed receiver to the premises.

The property was later sold with court approval on April 30th, 1997, and the proceeds were lodged to a special savings account with a financial institution.

Det Chief Supt McKenna said no application had since been made for the orders to be varied or discharged, or for any payment out to be made from the proceeds of sale.

The sum of €169,399 now stood to the credit of the special savings account, and an order was being sought under Section Four of POCA to direct the monies to the Minister for Finance.

The President of the High Court, Mr Justice Finnegan, made the order sought.