Pizzas galore!

To date, the CAB and SOCA have seized assets and cash worth more than €50m from scores of republican targets. Among them is Patrick Leneghan who reached a €5m out-of-court tax settlement with the CAB last year. That settlement was for non-payment of taxes, not for the proceeds of crime.

The CAB also settled an ¤8m claim with Thomas McFeely, a key player in the €500m extension of The Square shopping centre in Tallaght, Dublin. McFeely served 12 years of a 26-year sentence in the Maze prison for robbing a post office and shooting and wounding an RUC officer during the siege of a house in Co Derry.

Thomas “Slab” Murphy, the IRA’s former chief of staff, is another prime target. Murphy is an iconic figure for many hard-line republicans and a hate figure for unionists, who accuse him of masterminding scores of bomb attacks. He was issued with a tax demand for €5m by the bureau in 2006 after his farm on the Louth-Armagh border was searched by gardai.

That raid followed an operation by the British security services which seized

properties worth €17.3m in the greater Manchester area. Murphy has tried to negotiate a settlement with the bureau but, so far, the two sides have failed to reach an agreement. Other suspects, including prominent businessmen, are being pursued by the bureau through the courts for millions in unpaid taxes.

The IRA no longer requires the money it has amassed for purchasing weapons.

“It has found itself in a position where money is being generated through the front companies it established during the Troubles but it doesn’t need the money,” said one senior garda.

The security source added: “Its finance department has a huge headache, if you can call it that, because it can’t use this money without attracting attention”

The problems which large amounts of cash attract is best illustrated by the ¤38.6m that the IRA stole from the Northern Bank in December 2004. Though it was initially suspected that the raid was organised to reward its members and set them up for retirement, that assessment has since changed. The security services now believe the robbery was sanctioned by the IRA’s army council in order to send a message to the British government after the breakdown of peace negotiations the previous summer. “The IRA wanted to show the British that it was capable of pulling off a major operation right under their noses but it rebounded on them. They knew they couldn’t bomb a target but they did the next best thing, which was to clean out a bank in Belfast, known to be the most security conscious city in Europe. The heist was meant to be an ‘up yours’ to the British, a financial Canary Wharf, without an explosion,” said a garda source. “But look what happened. Some of those involved in the operation couldn’t help but take the money and try to launder it, which caused all sorts of headaches for the leadership,” the source added.

Almost two months after the raid, gardai recovered nearly €3m in cash from various places in Co Cork. About £2.3m was found in a green wheelie bin in a back garden. The force has since accounted for close to €5m of the missing cash but the whereabouts of the remaining cash is unknown, although special branch suspect it has been destroyed. “That particular escapade taught the IRA that having too much money can be just as dangerous as having too little,” added the source.

According to intelligence experts, this realisation partly explains why the IRA leadership has allowed some members to steal from its coffers, and to take control of its money laundering operations. “The problem the movement faces is what to do with a business empire that is producing hot money.”

That problem won’t last forever given the rate at which the bureau is continuing to seize money from republicans, whose finances cannot be accounted for, or who have been linked the IRA. The CAB operation, which is led by John O’Mahony, the bureau’s chief officer, will continue indefinitely and could result in the seizure of a further ¤50m from IRA suspects. “The bureau will continue to target the IRA for as long as is necessary. This operation will only stop when there’s nothing left to seize. It’s an open-ended investigation which has no end in sight,” said a source close to the inquiry. As the CAB continues to issue tax demands from business figures associated with the Provos, many of them will be forced to sell their money-producing assets to meet those bills.

SINN FEIN is believed to be ambivalent about the government’s attempts to seize republican finances. But as a political party that continues to deny having links with the IRA there is embarrassment at being continually associated with republicans such as Murphy.

“Sinn Fein are too street smart to allow hot money from the IRA to enter their accounts,” said Horan. “The party is trying to be whiter than white. They don’t want money from the IRA to contaminate their finances,” he added.

This view is shared by garda special branch and the CAB. “If you were to investigate the source of Sinn Fein’s funds, you might as well be examining those of the Labour party,” remarked one anti-terrorist garda officer in Garda Headquarters.

Dessie Ellis, a Sinn Fein councillor from Dublin northwest who served a sentence for terrorist-related crimes, said Sinn Fein fully supported the rule of law and was opposed to money laundering.

“Sinn Fein can account for every penny it receives and spends. We are not rich. People in Sinn Fein have nothing to hide anymore,” said Ellis.

That opinion is supported by Christy Burke, another Sinn Fein councillor from Dublin. He said Sinn Fein accepted the CAB had a job to do and believes strongly that Sinn Fein must be seen to be beyond reproach on financial issues.

“I am an old-timer but Sinn Fein is now a young and vibrant party. We are in a power-sharing executive in Northern Ireland, we have members sitting in the Dail and in the European

Parliament. We have to lead by example.” He added: “It’s up to CAB to investigate whomever they like. If they find people who have questions to answer, they have questions to answer. I certainly won’t be losing any sleep over them.”

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