The High Court has cleared the way for the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab) to apply to recover some €800,000 held in an Austrian bank by Brian Meehan, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin, and his father, Kevin.
The President of the High Court, Mr Justice Joseph Finnegan, said yesterday that he was satisfied that an order of the Austrian courts on the money does not prevent the Cab from trying to recover it.
The decision means the Cab may apply for a final disposal order in relation to the money held by Brian Meehan and his father Kevin Meehan in a number of bank accounts in Vienna, which have been frozen since 1997.
Meehan had brought proceedings in the High Court against the Cab seeking to dismiss proceedings by the bureau aimed at procuring the disposal order.
Brian Meehan has three accounts in a bank in Vienna and his father Kevin Meehan also has three bank accounts in the same bank, along with another account worth some €20,000 in the Isle of Man, with the total lodged in the region of €800,000.
An Austrian court has already made the money in the accounts subject to forfeiture under the Austrian penal code.
According to court documents, the Austrian court said Brian Meehan is suspected of having transferred profits from drug dealing from Ireland to Austria.
Yesterday, Mr Justice Finnegan said he saw no difficulty in the High Court making an order under Section 4 of the Proceeds of Crime Act 1996 depriving the Meehans of such title or interest as they may have in the sums on deposit in Austria.
The order would transfer the estate right and title of the Meehans in the funds to the Minister or to such person as the court may determine.
The ultimate release of the funds was a matter which would require to be dealt with before the court in Austria.
In May 1997, Brian Meehan and his father were prevented by a High Court order from removing or disposing of £640,000 in the bank accounts in Austria or from one account in the Isle of Man. The order was obtained after the Cab said it believed the money to be proceeds of crime, particularly drug trafficking.
The court said it was satisfied the property was directly or indirectly the proceeds of criminal activity.
Earlier this year, the Court of Criminal Appeal dismissed the appeal by Brian Meehan against his conviction for the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin 10 years ago.
Meehan (41), a native of Crumlin in Dublin, is the only person serving a sentence for Ms Guerin's murder.
He was jailed for life by the non-jury Special Criminal Court in July 1999 and given concurrent jail sentences of 20, 12, 10 and five years for drugs and firearms offences.