Tony Gregory (Dublin Central, Independent)
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Question 334: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the amounts returned to the Exchequer under the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 each year for which there are records. [24192/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Details of the activities of the Criminal Assets Bureau since its establishment in 1996 are contained in the Annual Reports of the Bureau which are submitted to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The most recently published report is for the year 2005. These reports are quite comprehensive and include details of the number of cases commenced, money frozen and returned to the Exchequer under the Proceeds of Crime Acts, 1996 and 2005, and money collected under the Revenue and Social Welfare Acts. Copies of the reports are available in the Oireachtas library.

I am informed by the Garda authorities that the total amount which was returned to the Exchequer under the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996, for the period 1996 up to 16 October 2007 inclusive, is the sum of €5,626,790. This figure is deemed to be provisional pending the publication of the CAB Annual Reports for 2006 and 2007. As the Deputy will be aware, monies or property frozen pursuant to Section 2 or 3 of the Act, remain frozen for a period of at least seven years unless all relevant parties consent to a Section 4A Order. As the provisions relating to 'consent' came into force in February 2005, only funds collected pursuant to the Act since 2003 could have been returned to the Exchequer since that time.

The first applications for "Disposal Orders" under Section 4 of the Act, instigated at the end of the statutory seven year period, came before the Courts in 2004. During that year the first two Section 4 applications were concluded and, following directions of the High Court, sums totalling €275,875.43 were sent to the Minister of Finance for the benefit of Central Funds. In 2005, Disposal Orders under Section 4 and Section 4A of Act realised a total of €2,002,738.41.

In addition to this, up to the end of 2006, almost €108 million was recovered by the Bureau in respect of tax debts and forwarded to the Exchequer. Again this figure is deemed to be provisional pending the publication of the CAB Annual Report for 2006 and this figure does not include those who have already been tax assessed and are currently being pursued through the Courts.

Furthermore, the total sums recovered and forwarded to the Exchequer (not including savings made) under the Social Welfare Vote, up to the end of 2006, as a consequence of investigations by the Criminal Assets Bureau is estimated to be approximately €1.12 million (this figure is deemed to be provisional pending the publication of the CAB Annual Reports for 2006). The tables provide more detail in respect of the above data with regard to the years 1996-2005 inclusive (the year of the most recently published CAB Annual Report). It should be noted that some of the figures quoted under Section 2 and 3 of the Proceeds of Crime Acts relate to real property, the value of which may have increased significantly since the making of the freezing order.

All funds collected by the Criminal Assets Bureau are forwarded, either directly or through the Revenue Commissioners/Department of Social and Family Affairs, to the Central Exchequer Fund under the remit of the Department of Finance and are allocated accordingly as approved by Dáil Éireann through the normal Estimates process.