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CRIME PAYS: Court Tells Gilligan to Keep E17m From Drug Smuggling

Posted on: Thursday, 22 December 2005, 06:00 CST

By PAT FLANAGAN

NOTORIOUS criminal John Gilligan can keep more than e17million he made from flooding Ireland with drugs, a court ruled yesterday.

The crime boss, pictured below, will not be stripped of his assets after a Supreme Court judgment.

Gilligan, whose many properties include an equestrian centre, said in a statement: "For once justice has returned to the Four Courts."

Upholding a previous High Court decision, the five-judge court declared that the Special Criminal Court, where Gilligan was convicted of drug trafficking, did not have the power to confiscate his property.

In a bid to seize the alleged profits of drug deals, the non- jury court made a confiscation order in 2001, freezing properties in West Dublin and his 77-acre Jessbrook Equestrian Centre in Kildare.

But the move was successfully appealed to the High Court.

Yesterday Justice Susan Denham said the Special Criminal Court did not have the right to force the confiscation of assets. She added: "I am satisfied the learned judge was correct in law and did not err and I would affirm the decision of the High Court."

Gilligan was jailed by the non-jury Special Criminal Court for 28 years in 2001 after he masterminded a drugs smuggling ring which saw tonnes of cannabis being trafficked into Ireland.

The sentence was later reduced to 20 years on appeal.

Following his conviction, the three-judge court ordered that assets, allegedly bought through the profits of his drug deals, be handed over to the state.

But the High Court ruled in November 2002 that the judges of the Special Criminal Court had gone beyond the powers of the court. Justice Denham ruled the Special Criminal Court was a unique arena which limited the rights of the accused. She added: "Given the nature of that court, a court of trial, matters other than a trial may not be inferred into its jurisdiction.

"Consequently, I am satisfied that the Special Criminal Court does not have jurisdiction to make orders pursuant to section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1994, as amended."

After the hearing, Gilligan's legal adviser Giovanni di Stefano said the Supreme Court had delivered an honest and intellectual judgement.

He said: "It was evidently clear to all and sundry that the Special Criminal Court had no jurisdiction to embark upon proceedings for confiscation. This case must be a lesson to the state."

Many of Gilligan's assets remain frozen under an order secured some years ago by the Criminal Assets Bureau in separate proceedings.

After a lengthy trial which began in late 2000, the Special Criminal Court cleared Gilligan of the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin in June 1996.

Source: Daily Mirror

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