A Galway resident has had €35,050 confiscated and forfeited to the State after a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court judge ruled it represented the proceeds of crime.
Anthony McAuley (46 ) of Brackloon, Kiltullagh, Athenry, was stopped by custom officers in Dublin Airport on March 1, 2009 as he was about to board a flight to Malaga. A search of his suitcase, which he had checked in, revealed €35,050 concealed in white envelopes hidden among his clothing.
He had booked a one way ticket to Malaga three days earlier, which had been purchased using the credit card of another man, who has convictions for drug possession.
Mr McAuley told custom officers in later interviews that he was travelling to Spain to visit his father who owns a property there and claimed he was intending to use the cash to buy himself and his family a Spanish home.
Mr McAuley had received a €100,000 in a compensation claim in November 2007 and was later able to provide documentation to prove this.
Judge Tony Hunt noted that Mr McAuley claimed that he had a “ticket touting” business and that he needed to deal in cash a lot in order to buy expensive season tickets for premier soccer matches.
He said he would have expected a lot more detail about the running of this business and previously commented that because Mr McAuley had never made returns for this enterprise he had possibly committed a revenue offence.
Judge Hunt said he could not understand why it was “necessary at all to enlist the help of a third party” in relation to the other man purchasing the flights for him.
He said he had not been provided with any documentation or information in relation to the property Mr McAuley was intending to purchase in Spain, how much he was intending to spend, and how he was planning to fund the purchase of it.
Judge Hunt said he could not understand why Mr McAuley chose to carry “all his worldly goods in his checked in luggage where it would be subject to being lost, scanned, or rifled”.
The judge said there were “large dark areas in relation to Mr McAuley’s case” before he confiscated the €35,050 and forfeited it to the State. He commented: “I have a very strong view on this case.”
Mr John Byrne BL, prosecuting, read from an affidavit before the court that Mr McAuley, who has no previous convictions, was stopped in Dublin Airport on March 1, 2009 by customs officer Eoin Flood. He was about to board a flight to Malaga.
Mr McAuley told the officer that he was travelling to Spain to visit his father who had a house there and that he was thinking of buying a property himself in Malaga. He had purchased a one way ticket three days previously.
He was not able to provide custom officers with any information in relation to properties that he was considering buying.
Mr Byrne said that Officer Flood “formed the view that the movement of cash in this manner was consistent with its involvement in criminal activity because it does not leave a trail” and he made enquires with revenue.
Mr McAuley was later able to provide documentation to prove that he had been awarded €100,000 in a compensation claim in November 2007.
Mr McAuley was interviewed the following month by custom officers again when he was not able to provide his father’s address but said he could call his sister to get it.
When asked why he was carrying cash in this way he said “I don’t deal with banks”, but he provided bank statements to the officer which showed activity in his account up to May 2008.
Mr Byrne said that a third party, who had a previous conviction for possession of drugs, had paid for Mr McAuley’s plane tickets by credit card. Mr McAuley said the man had done this because he did not own a credit card himself.
Mr McAuley explained that he had intended to sell his family home, which he shared with his wife and children in order to purchase the Spanish property. He said his house had been attacked and he wanted to move from the area.
He told officers that he had a business selling event tickets he had purchased at a lower price and it was an expensive enterprise which required him to have a cash float. He never made any tax returns for this business.
Judge Hunt told Mr Colm O’Briain BL, defending, that his client had “committed a revenue offence” by not making any returns for his business and said the manner in which he had carried the cash struck him as “eccentric”.
Mr O’Briain said there was no evidence that Mr McAuley had the cash due to “criminal activity” and said he had sworn an affidavit to explain how he had intended to use it.
He said Mr McAuley had purchased a one way ticket because he was “just undecided about the date of his return” to which Judge Hunt asked if he “was he intending to ring [the convicted criminal] when he wanted to come home” in order to buy his flight.
