A High Court judge has held that there was "a grave suppression of the truth" in an application for leave to challenge a tax assessment and £1.9 million seizure of assets by the Criminal Assets Bureau.
Mr Justice Herbert said he was not prepared to say it had been done wilfully but struck down two grounds on which a former bureau de change owner, Mr Kieran Byrne, had based his legal challenge.
Mr Byrne, of Annaskeagh, Dundalk, Co Louth, had told the court he wished to appeal a £776,000 tax assessment by the CAB but was unable to do so because it had seized all the necessary documentation and frozen his finances.
The judge accepted evidence from CAB members that copies of all documentation needed to prosecute his appeal had been made available.