Gardaí assisted €252m PSNI money laundering investigation
Gardaí have confirmed that they assisted the PSNI in a major investigation targeting a cross-border gang involved in a £215m (€252m) money laundering operation in Northern Ireland.
Seven people were arrested in the North over two days in what the PSNI said was their largest money laundering operation ever.
Gardaí continue to target this gang and have so far arrested three people since last August in relation to a fraud scam worth around €29m.
The gang is headed by a man who for the last year has primarily lived in the North. Gardaí suspect he may be working for other major criminal gangs.
The PSNI said that officers from their Economic Crime Unit conducted “the largest money laundering search and arrest operation” focusing on the international money laundering of criminal assets worth £215m over the last eight years.
It said 15 properties were searched and seven arrests made. Detective Chief Inspector Ian Wilson said they are suspected of “high-end money laundering through bank accounts in the UK and internationally”.
He said the operation involved liaison with the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau (GNECB), the Criminal Assets Bureau and agencies in Britain.
The statement said that more than 50 shell companies and more than 140 bank accounts have been identified in their investigation.
“In total, almost £215m has been deposited to thousands of bank accounts across the UK and also transferred out of the UK through foreign exchange companies since 2011,” DCI Wilson said.
“We believe that the majority of this money is derived from a range of criminal activity carried out by organised crime gangs.”
Garda HQ confirmed that its units were involved in assisting the PSNI and that it related to the same cross border organised crime group targeted by gardaí.
The GNECB investigation began in September 2016 into what is known as VAT carousel fraud. This involves systematic defrauding of the VAT system through bogus trade between jurisdictions.
In September 2017, 15 properties, both commercial and residential, were searched across four provinces and a large volume of digital and documentary evidence seized.
In May 2019, a woman was arrested in Co Louth and, in August, a man was arrested. The third person arrested, last October, in Dundalk, was described as a “facilitator” for the gang.
The arrests related to the defrauding in Ireland of around €29m by this cross-border outfit, led by a man who in the last year has lived primarily in the North.
Gardaí identified money through bank accounts across a range of financial institutions linked to various companies on the island, all under the control of the gang. Large sums of money were subsequently transferred to bank accounts in foreign jurisdictions.
The Garda investigation is ongoing.
