Criminal Assets Bureau

Criminal Assets Bureau
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Agency overview
FormedOctober 15, 1996; 28 years ago (1996-10-15)
Employees91 (total)
Annual budget€8.832 million[1]
Jurisdictional structure
National agency
(Operations jurisdiction)		IE
Operations jurisdictionIE
Map of Criminal Assets Bureau's jurisdiction
Size70,273 km2
Population4,784 million (2017)
Legal jurisdictionIreland
Constituting instrument
General nature
Operational structure
HeadquartersWalter Scott House, Military Road, Dublin, D08 HE2P, Ireland
Elected officer responsible
Agency executives
  • Michael Gubbins, Chief Bureau Officer
  • Kevin McMeel, Bureau Legal Officer
Notables
Award
  • Taoiseach's Public Service Excellence Awards (2004)
Data as of Annual Report 2021

The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) (Irish: An Biúró um Shócmhainní Coiriúla) is a law enforcement agency in Ireland. The CAB was established with powers to focus on the illegally acquired assets of criminals involved in serious crime. The aims of the CAB are to identify the criminally acquired assets of persons and to take the appropriate action to deny such people these assets. This action is taken particularly through the application of the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996.[2] The CAB was established as a body corporate with perpetual succession in 1996[3] and is founded on the multi-agency concept, drawing together law enforcement officers, tax officials, social welfare officials as well as other specialist officers including legal officers, forensic analysts and financial analysts.[4] This multi-agency concept is regarded by some as the model for other European jurisdictions.[5][6][7][8]

The CAB is not a division of the Garda Síochána (police)[9][10] but rather an independent body corporate although it has many of the powers normally given to the Gardaí.[11] The Chief Bureau Officer is drawn from a member of the Garda Síochána holding the rank of Chief Superintendent and is appointed by the Garda Commissioner. The remaining staff of the CAB are appointed by the Minister for Justice.[12] CAB members retain their original powers as if they were working within their separate entities and have direct access to information and databases that their original organisations are allowed by law. [13] This ability to share information was described by the Garda Síochána Inspectorate in its Crime Investigation Report of October 2014 as "a good model that could be replicated outside of CAB".[14]

The CAB reports annually to the Minister through the Commissioner of the Garda Síochána and this report is laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas.[15] The Minister for Justice, in publishing the 2011 CAB Annual Report, stated: "The work of the bureau is one of the key law enforcement responses to tackling crime and the Government is very much committed to further strengthening the powers of the bureau through forthcoming legislative proposals."[16] In publishing the Bureau's 2012 report the Minister for Justice set out: "The Annual Report provides an insight into the workings of the Bureau and highlights the advantage of adopting a multi-agency and multi-disciplinary approach to the targeting of illicit assets. The Bureau is an essential component in the State’s law enforcement response to serious and organised crime and the Government is fully committed to further strengthening its powers through future legislative reform."[17]

The Minister for Justice set out that Ireland, through the work of the Bureau, has established itself as a jurisdiction that is responding to that challenge and the work of the Bureau is internationally recognised as a best practice approach to tackling criminality and the illicit monies it generates.[18]

The CAB has been effective against organised criminals, especially those involved in the importation and distribution of drugs. It has also been used against corrupt public officials and terrorists.[19][20]

  1. ^ a b "CAB Annual Report 2015" (PDF). Department of Justice. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 October 2016. Retrieved 28 October 2016.
  2. ^ "Country legal profiles". European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction. Archived from the original on 27 January 2013. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
  3. ^ Criminal Assets Bureau Act 1996, s. 3: Establishment of Bureau (No. 31 of 1996, s. 3). Enacted on 11 October 1996. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book.
  4. ^ Criminal Assets Bureau Act 1996, s. 9: Staff of Bureau (No. 31 of 1996, s. 9). Enacted on 11 October 1996. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book.
  5. ^ Dr. Oliver Lajić (2012). "Uporedni pregled sistema za istraživanje i oduzimanje imovine stečene kriminalom" [Comparative review of the investigation and confiscation of criminal assets] (PDF). Zbornik Radova Pravnog Fakulteta, Novi Sad (in Serbian). 46 (2). Proceedings of the Faculty of Law in Novi Sad – Centre for Evaluation in Education and Science: 207–222. doi:10.5937/zrpfns46-2419. Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  6. ^ Mitchell, Gay (2012). "Asset Confiscation as an Instrument to Deprive Criminal Organisations of the Proceeds of their Activities" (PDF). Special Committee on Organised Crime, Corruption and Money Laundering – (CRIM) 2012–2013. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 December 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
  7. ^ Cormac O’Keeffe (16 October 2009). "European Criminal Assets Bureau based on CAB". Irish Examiner. Archived from the original on 28 October 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
  8. ^ "Minister Shatter publishes the Criminal Assets Bureau Annual Report for the year ending 31 December, 2011" (Press release). Dublin: Department of Justice. 26 April 2013. Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2013. The Bureau is a very well developed model for the confiscation of proceeds of crime. This is recognised not only in this jurisdiction but also at international level where the experience of the Bureau is much valued. I have therefore taken steps at EU level to encourage my European colleagues to study the Bureau model and to consider this model in the further development of the EU confiscation framework allowing for mutual recognition of confiscation orders.
  9. ^ Murphy v. Flood [1999] IEHC 9 at para. 16 (1 July 1999) (Ireland)
  10. ^ Barbara Vettori (2006). Tough on Criminal Wealth: Exploring the Practice of Proceeds from Crime Confiscation in the EU. Springer. p. 73. ISBN 978-1-4020-4129-7. Retrieved 11 May 2013.
  11. ^ King, Colin (June 2010). The Confiscation of Criminal Assets: Tackling Organised Crime Through a 'Middleground' System of Justice (PDF) (PhD). University of Limerick. p. 115. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 April 2019. Retrieved 25 March 2013.
  12. ^ McKenna, Felix; Egan, Kate (2009). "Chapter 3: Ireland: a multi-disciplinary approach to proceeds of crime". In Young, Simon (ed.). Civil Forfeiture of Criminal Assets – Legal Measure for Targeting the Proceeds of Crime. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd. pp. 52–91. ISBN 9781847208262.
  13. ^ Jensson, Arnar (2011). Crime should not pay: Iceland and the International Developments of Criminal Assets Recovery (PDF) (M.A.). University of Iceland (School of Social Sciences). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 23 March 2013.
  14. ^ Garda Síochána Inspectorate (October 2014). Crime Investigation Report (Report). p. 8. Archived from the original on 13 November 2014. Retrieved 13 November 2014. The Inspectorate believes that the sharing of information by these agencies is a good model that could be replicated outside of CAB.
  15. ^ "Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB)". International Association of Anti-Corruption Authorities. Archived from the original on 12 February 2013. Retrieved 21 March 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  16. ^ Judith Crosbie (26 April 2013). "State recoups €6.5m through Cab investigations". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 30 April 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2013.
  17. ^ "Minister Shatter publishes the Criminal Assets Bureau Annual Report for the year ending 31 December 2012" (Press release). Dublin. MerionStreet.ie. 9 April 2014. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  18. ^ "Minister Fitzgerald publishes the Criminal Assets Bureau Annual Report for 2013" (Press release). Dublin. Department of Justice. 8 October 2014. Archived from the original on 13 October 2014. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  19. ^ "CAB to lead anti-terrorism efforts here". The Irish Times. 28 September 2001. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
  20. ^ Paul O'Mahony (2002). Criminal justice in Ireland. Institute of Public Administration. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-902448-71-8. Archived from the original on 3 January 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2013.