The High Court has reserved judgment on an application by the Criminal Assets Bureau for judgment for almost £2 million against Dublin man Mr Gerry Hutch. At the conclusion of the two-day hearing yesterday, the President of the High Court, Mr Justice Morris, said he would give his decision as soon as he could.
CAB wants judgment on foot of a tax assessment for £1,984,626 for a number of years from 19881999 but excluding 1994-1995. The figure is made up of an assessment for £782,080 for income tax and £1,202,545 in interest.
Last month, the High Court was told CAB was investigating the whereabouts of over £4 million which, it suspects, is the proceeds of criminal activities by Mr Hutch. A CAB officer said in an affidavit that the bureau was "pursuing a money trail" to the extent of trying to trace monies stolen by Mr Hutch and hidden away in bank accounts.
For example, he alleged, Mr Hutch was dealing with an offshore bank, Hailifax International Jersey Ltd, St Helier, Jersey and had presented himself as P Fowler - his wife's name was Patricia Fowler - at UPS, Glasnevin, on March 20th, 1966, and dispatched an envelope to the Jersey bank.
During his closing submission for CAB yesterday, Mr Richard Nesbitt SC said there was evidence that Mr Hutch was the owner of property which was not in his name.
There was no explanation about where he got the means to purchase that property.
Counsel said Mr Hutch had no bona fide defence to the application being made by CAB.
He had sought to have the hearing adjourned to get legal aid but he was unwilling to go into the witness box to discuss his means.
Mr Nesbitt also referred to the allegations on affidavit by the CAB officer that Mr Hutch had been hiding money. Mr Justice Morris said it would be wrong to stray outside the points on which the defence had approached the case.
During the two days of the hearing, Mr Hutch was not in court. Submissions on his behalf were made by his solicitor, Ms Gabrielle Wolfe, who said Mr Hutch's side could not fund counsel in the case as legal aid had been refused by the High Court last week.