WIREDGOV

A man with suspected links to East Belfast Ulster Volunteer Force has been ordered to hand over £60,000 proceeds of crime, following an investigation by National Crime Agency officers working as part of the Paramilitary Crime Task Force

On 14 September a judge sitting at the High Court in Belfast granted a Civil Recovery Order by consent under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 against Paul Mawhinney, 50, of Dundonald, Belfast.

The settlement figure comprises the proceeds from the sale of a motorhome (£45,000), plus an additional amount of £15,000, all suspected of having been acquired through the proceeds of fraud offences and money.

Mawhinney has seven days from the date of the order to pay an initial £50,000, plus another six months to pay the remainder.

NCA Operations Manager Steven Brown said:

“Working as part of the PCTF we are determined to use all the tools at our disposal to target those impacting our communities through paramilitary crime.

“The NCA’s civil recovery and tax powers allow us to hit them in the pocket and strip away the assets they have obtained through their criminal activity.

“This result demonstrates that our financial investigators will find and recover the proceeds of crime, no matter how carefully they have been hidden.”

The NCA, Police Service of Northern Ireland and HM Revenue & Customs established the PCTF to tackle criminality linked to paramilitary activity as part of the Executive's action plan on Tackling Paramilitary Activity, Criminality, and Organised Crime.