A Ukranian woman accused of human trafficking had bail set at €150,000 by the High Court yesterday.
Ms Irena Andreyeva (30) with an address in Dublin, is facing four charges, including trafficking an Estonian national into the country last month and working as a translator without a work permit.
The case is one of few such cases to come before the courts and legal sources say the amount of bail set is comparatively high.
Ms Andreyeva was arrested last month by the Garda National Immigration Bureau and later charged in Dublin District Court, which did not consent to bail. Ms Andreyeva made a further application and the hearing was conducted yesterday in the High Court sitting at Cloverhill prison in Dublin.
The court heard that the accused had access to up to €80,000 in current and business bank accounts. Bail was subsequently set at €150,000. It is understood Ms Andreyeva can make a cash lodgement of one third of this sum and enter a bond for the remaining two thirds. She did not exercise her right to take up bail yesterday.
Det Garda John Hargan from the immigration bureau gave evidence about Ms Andreyeva's arrest on 16th November 2002.
According to immigration gardaí, she has been charged under section 2 of the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act (2000) with organising or facilitating the entry to the State of an illegal immigrant or asylum-seeker. It is alleged this offence took place at Dublin Airport on November 7th, 2002.
She has also been charged with fraud and with two breaches of aliens legislation by engaging in a business without the permission of the Minister for Justice and working for Global Translators company without a work permit. Ms Andreyeva has been in custody in Cloverhill prison in west Dublin since her arrest last month.
Trafficking offences under the Illegal Immigrants (Trafficking) Act carry a penalty of a 10-year prison sentence or an unlimited fine. Gardaí say around 50 people have been arrested on suspicion of trafficking under the law.
The first prosecution under the act came last December when a Russian national was jailed for four months after he admitted being paid more than €1,000 to help two of his countrymen and a Moldovan to enter the State illegally.