The Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) applied on Tuesday to sell several cars, motorbikes, jewellery and other assets, worth €500,000 in total, which belong to 11 people it believes are linked to the Kinahan crime gang.
Cab previously secured High Court orders freezing the assets, which it seized following raids at various locations in March 2016.
The proceedings are against Liam Byrne, who the bureau claims is a member of the Kinahan gang, and several of his alleged associates.
Mr Byrne’s brother, David, was shot dead in an attack in Dublin’s Regency Hotel in February 2016.
Last month, the High Court appointed a Cab receiver over the cars and granted orders allowing the receiver to sell the vehicles, but stayed that order pending any application by any of the individuals linked to the assets.
When the matter was mentioned before Ms Justice Carmel Stewart at the High Court on Tuesday, Remy Farrell SC, for Cab, said it contends the assets represent the proceeds of crime.
He said the vehicles were used by the Kinahan gang as currency for services and for laundering money and were linked to a car sales company which was a “bogus front”.
The vehicles were “not of sentimental value” and were “used as assets only”, counsel said.
Since they were seized, the cars had depreciated in value by €111,000, he added.
Several of the respondents were represented in court during the brief hearing.
Response
Lawyers acting for the respondents and other parties put on notice of the proceedings asked for time to allow them consider and respond to Cab’s application.
The judge heard that some of the respondent’s lawyers were awaiting instructions from their clients in regards to the matter.
The judge agreed to adjourn the case to March 20th to allow any party claiming an interest in any of the assets to file a sworn statement in respect of Cab’s bid to sell them.
The judge said she was not prepared to allow the stay on the sale order remain in place for a lengthy period.