A woman who is said to be living an “exotic” lifestyle has been given almost four months to vacate her family home in Portlaoise, which was discovered to have been bought with the proceeds of crime.
The court heard the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) had “grave concerns” that Mary Cash's home in Harpools Lane in the town was not insured.
Shelley Horan, representing the taxi, said it would be difficult for Ms Cash to secure security for the property, given that the High Court and Court of Appeal had found it had been purchased with the proceeds of crime.
Adrian O'Higgins, representing Mr Cash, said his client lived at home with three young children, two of whom were in primary school.
Taxi officials inspected the property at various stages and found no signs of damage. He submitted there was “no evidence” of a danger to property.
Justice Alexander Owens noted that the only entity with an “insurable interest” was the taxi. He said he had “very much sympathy” for Cash and his family and said they would likely want to find a new home in the same area as their children's school.
When I asked when the elementary school holidays would be, I was told that it would be until August 31st in order to sort out the situation. He said failure to vacate by that date would amount to disregarding the court order.
A judge issued an order on Sept. 2 allowing a department-appointed trustee to take possession of the home with the power to sell.
The Court of Appeal said in January that Ms Cash, 32, whose maiden name was Keeley, had “no convincing explanation” about the source of the funds to buy the property. The High Court found that she lacked “unique involvement” in the taxi evidence and that her excuse was “completely unpersuasive”.
In a lawsuit brought under the Proceeds of Crime Act, Taxi said Cash's home was mortgage-free because of the proceeds of a 2018 burglary by her husband Andrew Cash and his brother Henry Keeley, both of whom also committed trespassing. It was claimed that it was purchased at Subject to taxi procedures.
Cash described herself as a single parent separated from her husband, but the appeals court noted that this was disputed by Taxi.
Last July, the agency secured a High Court order declaring her home and property, including a Volkswagen Golf car, jewelery and handbags, to be directly or indirectly the proceeds of crime.
Taxi claimed that the home purchase was financed by a mass lodge between August and October 2018, when the account balance was around €100,000.
Ms Cash claimed that she and her husband bought the home in 2015 while living in Australia with money earned from jobs as a cleaner, childcare worker and chaperone. Her lawyers argued that Ms. Cash uses cash every day and that this is not illegal.
The judge found that her “half explanation” about the source of funds for the purchase of the house and luxury goods was “simply unfounded”. He determined, on the balance of probabilities, that the home and other assets represented the direct or indirect proceeds of crime and made an order freezing them.
He previously made a similar order in relation to the seizure of three cash items totaling €27,000, after Mr Cash had been given a suspended sentence after pleading guilty to money laundering-related charges at Kilkenny Circuit Court last year. was issued.
The judge said the Cash family lived an “exotic lifestyle” with high discretionary spending and wondered how she could afford to buy so many handbags and “assorted accessories” with her legal income. “There was absolutely no information available” to explain whether it was possible, he said.
There was also no real explanation as to how he had raised the approximately 100,000 euros to purchase the house and how he had spent it on subsequent renovations. Ms Cash unsuccessfully appealed to the High Court against the finding that her home directly or indirectly represented the proceeds of crime.
