A Co Clare man awaiting trial in the UK on charges arising from an alleged £100 million VAT fraud has brought a High Court challenge to the validity of warrants secured by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) to search his home, company premises, the offices belonging to a solicitor and an accountant, and the homes of staff of the man's companies.
During the searches in November 2002, many documents were seized and forwarded to the UK authorities.
Mr Dylan Creaven (30) is on bail awaiting trial in the UK on charges arising from the alleged VAT "carousel" fraud. He was arrested in the UK in November 2002 and was in custody for more than a year before he got bail.
His challenge to the validity of the warrants, which were issued the day before Mr Creaven's arrest in London, opened yesterday in the High Court.
The proceedings are brought on behalf of Mr Creaven and two of his companies, Silicon Technologies (Europe) Ltd and Bradenville Holdings Ltd, both with addresses at Ennis, Co Clare.
Mr Creaven is involved in another set of High Court proceedings in which he has applied for an order dismissing proceedings taken against him in Ireland by CAB. Those proceedings have been adjourned to February 23rd.
In earlier court hearings it was claimed the extent of the alleged fraud was over £100 million, and that it involved high-value computer components and the alleged movements of these goods in a circle between companies to generate VAT payments that had not been declared to the UK authorities. Mr Creaven and his companies deny the claims.