Who are the Criminal Assets Bureau and what can they do?

IRELAND’S Criminal Assets Bureau is a specialist agency that has powers to target the illegally acquired assets of criminals and organised crime gangs.

CAB was originally set up in 1996, by the then justice minister Nora Owen, in response to growing levels of serious organised crime in Ireland and in the wake of the murder of Sunday Independent Journalist Veronica Guerin and Detective Garda Gerry McCabe.

Though they are often mistakenly referred to as part of the Gardaí the CAB is actually an independent body, however its officers have many of the same powers as the gardaí and the organisation is led by a Garda Chief Superintendent. CAB identifies assets of persons which derive –or are suspected to derive – directly or indirectly from criminal acts. It then takes appropriate action to seize these assets.

CAB also works with international bodies such as the European Commission and Camden Assets Recovery Inter-agency Network (CARIN).

CARIN is an informal network of law enforcement agencies, who share knowledge and information on how to trace assets.

In the past CAB has acted against organised criminals, especially those involved in the drugs trade and it has also been used against corrupt public officials and terrorist organisations.