Russian mafia investing heavily in land in parts of Kildare

Russian Mafia gangs are investing heavily in parts of North Kildare in a bid to hide some of the money they are making through crime according to the chief super indtendent from the Criminal Assets Bureau.

The CAB have admitted that Russian mafia money is more difficult to detect than other money made through crime as they hide their money by investing in large areas of land rather than houses.

"There is a quite a pattern developing there in north Kildare and we are trying to do something about that," said super intendent Eugene Corcoran in an article in today's Sunday Independent.

"This is emerging over the last couple of years. They see it as a good way of avoiding making cash deposits or accumulating cash and there is a speculative element to it as well," he said.

The bureau is also targeting professionals who are helping criminals to hide their money.

"They are getting advice from professionals to structure their investments in a particular way," he said, adding that "there are a number of accountants and solicitors who they can go to, who know exactly what they are dealing with."

Russian gangs also use investment funds that are routed through international institutions in the Irish Financial Services Centre to prevent their fortunes from being detected, meaning the CAB have a difficult job in monitoring where the money is coming and going from.

"That money is in circulation. It does not tend to be the subject of much investigation here because it tends to be hidden in large international funds.

"They tend to be disguised in very large investment funds that are routed through here from time to time through international banks in the IFSC, but don't tend to be the subject of requests for assistance (from overseas police forces)," he said.

"Very often it can prove quite a difficult task to monitor that because you are dealing with very large funds that are otherwise genuine."