The High Court has cleared the way for the seizure a luxury property in south Dublin as part of a Criminal Assets Bureau case against Jim Mansfield Jnr and members of the Kinahan cartel. The jailed businessman gave the house to the Kinahan cartel after he took millions of euro from them to invest in property in Ireland for them but never did so.
The High Court heard on Tuesday that Mansfield Jnr was given €4.5 million in cash in two suitcases by the Daniel Kinahan and his associate Thomas ‘Bomber’ Kavanagh in 2009. It was intended Mansfield invest the money in property assets for the cartel. However, the deal collapsed due to the crashing economy and the Kinahans did not get its properties.
The High Court heard how Mansfield's financial position "deteriorated" after the collapse of the Celtic Tiger economy and how his relationships with the cartel "soured" after he went into receivership. Mansfield Jnr later reached a deal with the cartel to effectively repay them by giving them a luxury house in a gated community in Saggart and a sum of money.
Cab has been investigating the house, at Coldwater Lakes, and its history for a number of years. The High Court was told on Tuesday that Kinahan effectively owned the property from 2014 and had stayed there for periods.
Shelley Horan BL, for the bureau, told the High Court it was Cab’s belief the Kinahan cartel had invested in properties that Mansfield Jnr was developing. The jailed businessman dealt directly with Kinahan and Kavanagh and in 2009 was given €4.5m in two suitcases towards the investments they were making.
Mansfield Jnr and his brother Patrick Joseph (PJ) Mansfield have now consented to an order waiving any claim over the Coldwater Lakes property worth some €1 million. The CAB proceedings are against Daniel Kinahan, Thomas Kavanagh and Jim Mansfield Junior and PJ Mansfield. Anne Mansfield is not a party but she also consented to the order that she has no claim over the property.
However, the house can only be seized when other respondents in the case, including Daniel Kinahan and Thomas Kavanagh, are reached and served with papers.
The court heard efforts were being made to serve Kavanagh in HMP Norwich, the prison where he is currently serving a drugs-related sentence. Cab has no address for Kinahan in Dubai but was dealing with one of his associates and may also serve him via social media.
The case is the first time Daniel Kinahan (44) has been named as a respondent in a Cab investigation. He has been named in Garda evidence in previous cases as the leader of the Kinahan cartel. Kavanagh (53) has worked for the cartel in the UK and was jailed there last week for 21 years for his role in the importation of drugs with a street value of more than £30 million (€36 million) into the UK.
In January businessman Mansfield Jnr was found guilty of perverting the course of justice by ordering the destruction of CCTV footage showing him with his former employee Martin Byrne on the morning that Mr Byrne was kidnapped by well-known criminals and INLA figures Dessie O’Hare and Declan ‘Whacker’ Duffy. Mansfield was jailed for 18 months last month and is currently serving that sentence.
The 54-year-old was acquitted by the Special Criminal Court of a separate charge of conspiracy to falsely imprison Mr Byrne, who had previously provided security for the family business.
The court found that although Mansfield had knowingly involved O’Hare and Duffy in his attempts to recover assets lost in the 2008 economic crash, there was insufficient evidence to show Mansfield knew the two men planned to kidnap Mr Byrne.
