Two houses alleged to have been acquired from proceeds of crime by a suspected leader of a Limerick organised crime gang and an associate of his have been frozen by High Court orders.
The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) got the orders in proceedings against Edward McCarthy, suspected by gardaí to be among the leaders of the McCarthy/Ryan gang, previously known as the McCarthy/Dundon gang.
Gardaí also suspect Mr McCarthy is one of the biggest suppliers of drugs in Munster and a significant supplier in Dublin. He has 28 previous convictions.
A feud between the McCarthy/Ryans and another gang, the Keane/Collopys, has resulted in the murders of 17 people since 2000, Mr Justice Raymond Fullam noted.
The orders are also against an associate of Mr McCarthy, Anthony Mullane, the father of Mr McCarthy's partner, Linda Mullane.
The orders mean a house at Cliona Park, Moyross, where Mr McCarthy and Ms Mullane live, and another at Creagh Avenue, Kileely, owned by her father, cannot be dealt with or sold pending further proceedings.
Both men denied the houses were acquired from the proceeds of crime.
Gardaí believe Mr McCarthy is the beneficial owner of Creagh Avenue and Mr Mullane is a front to disguise the true ownership of that property, the court heard.
Mr McCarthy, who denies involvement in serious criminality, claimed, while he agreed to pay the previous occupants of Cliona Park some €10,000 for the house, he only paid between €3,000 and €4,000. It remains registered in the names of the previous occupants.
He said he is a horse owner and dealer earning around €350-€450 per week but had no records to show this and had not submitted tax returns because he thought his earnings so small he would not be liable for tax.
He owns a 2011 Ford S-Max bought for €19,400 with cash from his horse business and from a trade-in of a 2009 Audi, he said. He also owns a VW Golf, a Rolex watch, three stallions and eight mares, grazed on rented lands.
The court heard records showed he and his family went on several trips to England and once to Spain between December 2013 and April 2015. This was at a time when he sought, and got, legal aid to fight the proceeds of a crime case, CAB said.
He said the money he gave the previous occupants of the Cliona Park house came from a €6,750 compensation award he got in 2002.
He had applied to get squatter's rights on Cliona Park as, although it was still registered in the previous occupants' names, he has been living there more than the 12 years required to establish those rights.
He said he had given Mr Mullane €10,000 towards purchase of Creagh Avenue in 2012 because it was intended to be the home of his partner during a troubled time in their relationship but they continued to live together in Cliona Park.
That €10,000 came from some €22,000 winnings which a third party, who Mr McCarthy failed to identify, got from a €60 bet with Boylesports, the court heard.
Mr Mullane, who also denies involvement in criminality, said most of the €68,000 paid for Creagh Avenue in 2012 came from savings made when he was in business with his brother. He said he bought it for his daughter because she intended to leave Mr McCarthy.
He himself was semi-literate and thought his brother had been filing the correct tax returns.
Mr Justice Fullam found both men were unable to provide any documents or records evidencing the incomes required to offset their "high expenditure and lifestyle".
A forensic accountant for CAB found no legitimate means or explanation for either of them which would have allowed them buy the houses without funding them from crime, he said. The required elements for adverse possession of Cliona Park had not been satisfied, he also held.
The judge adjourned the case to next week to deal with a possible stay on his orders pending appeal.
