By PAUL O’DONOGHUE, Senior Correspondent
INTERNATIONAL police have launched a money laundering probe into the €1 billion Kinahan Cartel, attempting to trace the group’s structure and assets.
Law enforcement in Ireland is working on the case with agencies in Australia, Britain, Spain, the United States and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), according to the Irish Times.
News of the investigation comes just days after the UAE (United Arab Emirates) extradited Daniel Kinahan to Ireland.
He faces a charge of directing organised crime between October 2015 and April 2017.
The Kinahan cartel established itself as the most powerful organised crime group in Ireland in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Previously estimated to be worth over €1 billion, it made much of its money through cocaine smuggling.
According to Irish media, the key cartel leaders relocated to Dubai after a gangland attack in Dublin’s Regency Hotel in 2016.
Previously, many criminals viewed Dubai as something of a ‘haven’ from which they could continue to operate. However, sentiment in the UAE shifted after the FATF (Financial Action Task Force), which sets international AML standards, placed the country on its grey list.
The designation refers to countries with problematic AML or anti-financial crime regimes. The UAE successfully exited the list in 2024, and has taken a stronger approach towards organised crime.
Kinahan cartel money laundering proceeds
In 2022, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned seven key members of the Kinahan cartel, including Daniel Kinahan.
Officials in the UAE said that they have frozen €200 million of the cartel’s assets as a result of the sanctions, according to the Sunday Times.
Earlier this week the UAE government said that Daniel Kinahan’s extradition to Ireland shows that criminals “will not find a haven” in the country.
Hamid Al-Zaabi, the country’s AML chief, also said that the country’s officials are working with multiple international agencies to tackle financial crime.
“The UAE will continue working closely with Ireland and partners around the world to ensure that our country cannot be used as a safe haven for the proceeds or perpetrators of serious organised crime,” he said.
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