CAB targets street trader’s three properties
EIGHT years ago, a father from Co Clare sold his home under pressure to repay an extortionate loan to an illegal money lender. Now the shoe is on the other foot, as the loan shark faces the prospect of losing her properties to the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).
The bureau has begun legal proceedings against Diana Casey (36) from Kilrush, seeking to seize three properties that are registered in her name. The action arises from an investigation of Diana Casey’s assets since she pleaded guilty to lending money without a licence at Ennis Circuit Court last year.
The CAB is making the application on suspicion that her properties were acquired with the proceeds of crime.
The houses, all in Kilrush, have a value of less than €126,000 in a town where the median house price last year was €115,000.
Casey came to Garda attention after she was accused of “putting pressure” on a local man to sell his house to repay a loan.
Casey had offered the loan of €8,000 to Michael Gilligan on learning that he was due compensation following an accident. She demanded repayment of the sum, with extortionate interest of €8,500, from Michael Gilligan’s father, John. In a statement to the court, John Gilligan said: “Diana Casey came to my house on St Patrick’s Terrace and she told me that I had to pay back €16,500 in loan and interest and it was my responsibility to pay back the loan. I told her the only way I could pay the loan back was if I got rid of the house.”
She asked him to sell his house to her late father, Patrick Casey, also a moneylender, for €40,000 and to repay the €16,500 out of the sale proceeds. The CAB has launched a separate investigation into the estate of Patrick Casey, who has since died. Mr Gilligan’s house remains in Patrick Casey’s name.
The investigation is one of a series launched by the bureau since it expanded its inquiries into suspects in rural and provincial communities thought to be living off illicit earnings.
Diana Casey was fined €7,000 for lending money without a licence last year.
Her lawyer said she was a woman of modest means, who lived with her mother in a council property and made a living as a street trader travelling around Cork and Limerick three or four days a week. Her income ranged from €21,000 to €25,000, with the three properties which she rented out generating €100 a week between them.
Gardai said she bought the three houses in Kilrush for €56,000, €50,000 and €20,000 and all of them are mortgage free.
Casey was once barred by a District Court Judge from going within 100 metres of Kilrush Post Office on “dole days” of Tuesdays and Thursdays.
At the time of her prosecution last year, Diana Casey’s legal team argued she was not the subject of a Criminal Assets Bureau investigation and never had been. The CAB’s application is due to come before High Court in the coming months.