£4.8 MILLION OF CRIMINAL ASSETS FROZEN

24 Mar 2005 04:00 AM

The Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) was granted an Interim Receiving Order at the High Court in Belfast on Wednesday 16th March, and an Interim Receiver has now taken control of assets valued at around £4.8 million.

The assets are owned by Colin Robert Armstrong and Geraldine Enda Mallon of
68 Tullynewbank Road, Glenavy, Co. Antrim and by a number of companies including:-

* Modern Homes (NI) Ltd
* Tudor Road Properties Ltd

A total of eight personal and company bank accounts have also been frozen.

The assets include Mr. Armstrong's luxury home at Tullynewbank Road, Glenavy and a portfolio of at least 46 other properties located across Northern Ireland. There is one further property in Dublin and another on the Cote D'Azure in France.

It is estimated that there is around £2.0 million of equity in these assets.

ARA Assistant Director Alan McQuillan said: "In its case to the High Court, the Agency has alleged that Mr. Armstrong was linked to drug trafficking between Belgium and Northern Ireland in 1994 and was involved in importing and selling drugs in Northern Ireland over a period of years. We have further alleged that Mr. Armstrong has had links with the UVF, and then the LVF following the split between those organisations.

"In the case of Ms Mallon, we have simply alleged that she is Mr Armstrong's partner, that she holds some of the assets in her own name and that she is a director of some of the companies.

"To obtain this order we have convinced the High Court that we have a good arguable case that these assets are the proceeds of crime and may later be forfeited under the Proceeds of Crime Act.

The Receiver is an independent Officer of the High Court. The Receiver has now taken control of and will preserve the assets. They will also carry out a completely independent investigation and submit a report to the High Court."

Notes for Editors:

1. In its original application to the High Court, ARA identified a total of 31 properties and other assets valued in total at around £3.75 million. As a result of material uncovered during a search and other enquiries over the last 48 hours, the Receiver has now taken control of other assets and properties. We understand that the total number of properties under the control of the Receiver has now risen to around 49 and the total value has risen to around £4.8 million.

2. The addresses of the properties are not being released at this stage. The majority of those in Northern Ireland are located in the Portadown / Craigavon area.

3. An Interim Receiving Order is a temporary order which has two functions. It freezes property so that the property cannot be dissipated by a respondent before the court holds a full hearing to determine whether a Recovery Order should be made. It also appoints an Interim Receiver as an independent officer of the court to investigate and provide the court with an expert opinion as to whether the property is recoverable property. In carrying out his role the Interim Receiver may have the extensive powers set out in Schedule 6 to the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 including the powers to carry out searches, seize property, and question witnesses. Once the Interim Receiver reports to the court a full hearing will be held and the court will determine whether to make a Recovery Order under which specified property may be forfeited.

4. The Agency is playing its part in the multi-agency approach to deliver the Government's Asset Recovery Strategy. Under the cross government initiative 'Payback', the tracing of and recovery of assets is seen as an important element in the delivery of justice, and sends out a strong deterrent message. The overall aims of this strategy are to make greater use of the investigations of criminal assets in the fight against crime; recover money that has been made from crime or which is intended for use in crime; prevent criminals and their associates from laundering the proceeds of criminal conduct, and detect and penalise such laundering where it occurs; to use the proceeds recovered for the benefit of the community.

Assets Recovery Agency, PO Box 39992
London EC4M 7XQ
www.assetsrecovery.gov.uk