Irish Government to consider financial reward for information on Kinahan cartel
Micheal Martin said he will discuss it with his Government colleagues.
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Your support makes all the difference.Irish premier Micheal Martin said the Government will consider offering a financial reward for information on the Kinahan gang.
Mr Martin said he will discuss it with his Government colleagues and keep the measure under review.
It come as US authorities offered a five million dollar reward for information on the Kinahan cartel gang that leads to the arrest and conviction of its leaders.
The US government department imposed sanctions against seven senior members of the Kinahan crime gang as part of a bid to target their financial operations.
It was revealed on Tuesday that US authorities were offering the five million dollar reward (£3.8 million/4.6 million euro) for information that will lead to the “financial destruction” of the Kinahan gang or the arrest and conviction of its leaders, Christy Kinahan Snr and/or his sons Daniel and Christopher Jnr.
Mr Martin has welcomed the US government crackdown on the Kinahan crime gang as “very, very significant”.
“I welcome this, and I do believe that we have to work internationally, and collaborate with other authorities in respect of these issues,” he said.
Asked whether the Irish government would follow with a similar reward for information that leads to the arrest of key gang members, Mr Martin said the government “want to do everything we possibly can generally to deal with criminality in our country”, acknowledging the importance of international collaboration, noting that crime crosses borders.
“I will discuss that with government colleagues and certainly keep an issue like that under review.
“We do have the criminal assets bureau which was an initiative many many years ago following the murder of Veronica Guerin.”
Hopefully, we'll see it produce results because that particular organisation has escaped justice for far too long
Mr Martin said that he did not discuss the sanctions when he spoke to US President Joe Biden while he was in Washington DC for St Patrick’s Day.
Meanwhile, Tanaiste Leo Varadkar welcomed the development in the Kinahan case, describing it as “good news” and “positive”.
He said that the international gang has escaped justice for too long.
Mr Varadkar said on Tuesday: “My understanding is that it only arose and it’s only really happening largely because of work done by the gardai and cooperation between the gardai and the FBI and the US authorities.
“Hopefully, we’ll see it produce results because that particular organisation has escaped justice for far too long.
“Perhaps this is evidence of the net getting tighter.”
Mr Varadkar also said he thinks offering financial rewards for information is “worthy of consideration” but added it is not something that has been done in the past.
“If you think of the cost to the nation of what criminal enterprises do, giving people a reward for information probably makes sense,” Mr Varadkar added.
He said that he has not given the proposal much thought but that it might be something Justice Minister Helen McEntee would consider.