Meticulous records reveal extent of IRA's criminal operations
Sunday November 19 2006
Handwritten records of transactions involving smuggled fuel, cigarettes and other contraband recovered from the home of the IRA's former chief of staff, Thomas 'Slab' Murphy, have provided an unprecedented insight into the IRA's racketeering and money laundering activities along the border.
The records were compiled using colour-coded shading to clearly indicate the cost of goods brought into the IRA's stores and also the price received for the contraband goods when they were offloaded in Northern Ireland and the Republic.
Most of the transactions show smuggled fuel being ferried from the Republic into the IRA's control around 'Slab' Murphy's farm at Ballybinaby, which crucially straddles the border in south Armagh, but they also detail cigarette consignments and transactions in counterfeit goods.
The records were seized in March this year when 200 soldiers and PSNI officers in the North accompanied customs officers to carry out a major search on Murphy's property.
Officials from the Republic's Criminal Assets Bureau and personnel from the Customs and Excise Department were accompanied by gardai as they entered the property from the Southern side of the border.
Two laptop computers concealed among bales of hay in a barn were located during the extensive search which the PSNI Chief Constable Sir Hugh Orde hailed as a showcase example of the type of cross border co-operation that will be employed in the future to thwart terrorists and criminals.
But it is reliably understood that traditional handwritten ledgers also seized in the raid provide the most detailed insight into the IRA's smuggling operation. These ledgers show goods coming into the IRA's possession and then being sold on to their members and criminals for distribution - providing the most comprehensive record ever seized of the terrorist organisation's smuggling empire in Ireland.
The Criminal Assets Bureau is understood to be delighted at the precise bookkeeping details in the ledgers and believes it will enable a justifiable claim for a substantial tax settlement to be presented to 'Slab' Murphy.
One source said: "It is an old fashioned bookkeeping method, which may reflect the age or the generation of the person who maintained it. But it is immaculate and is very easy to follow.
"In simple terms, purchases or smuggled goods of one type are colour coded and they turn up in the same colour code when they are sold on at a profit.
"Diesel has one colour code, petrol another and cigarettes another. These are immaculately maintained records which will enable the Criminal Assets Bureau to levy a tax bill of maybe €5m against Slab."
Because they're handwritten and not formulated on a computer, handwriting experts may be able to pinpoint with certainty the identity of the person who maintained the records and tie them into the IRA's crime operation which could lead to a membership charge or a more serious terrorist charge being brought by the Garda.
In a stout defence of 'Slab' Murphy after the raids were carried out, Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams described him as "not a criminal" and went on to say he was "a key supporter of the Sinn Fein peace strategy".
But that praise for Murphy could come back to embarrass Mr Adams when, as expected, the CAB goes to the High Court to demand millions from him in unpaid taxes and lay bare the criminal financial empire he has controlled for the IRA for over two decades.
Recent reports suggested that the Assets Recovery Agency, the UK's equivalent of CAB, has been unable to link Murphy with a UK property portfolio after raids in Manchester in October 2005. But an ARA spokesperson said its investigation in Britain was continuing and many leads were being followed.
- Liam Collins
