The Director of Public Prosecutions v Ylli Kalemi and Spartak Nikolia

Amount Forfeited

€42,200

Court Date

29 July 2015

Venue

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court

Judge

His Honour Judge Martin Nolan

Summary

On the 29 July 2015, Dublin Circuit Court ordered the forfeiture to the Exchequer of cash amounting to €42,200 pursuant to Section 39, Criminal Justice Act 1994, as amended by Section 21, Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Act 2005, on the grounds that it was proven on the balance of probabilities to represent the proceeds of crime, or was intended for use in criminal conduct and that the explanations given did not stand up to scrutiny.

On 5 May 2012 Revenue Enforcement Officers at Dublin Airport seized and detained the cash, concealed in a laptop case, from Ylli Kalemi, an Albanian-born Irish national, as he was about to board a flight to Albania via Istanbul. He claimed that €40,000 of the cash belonged to a third party and was being taken to Tirana to give to the third party’s brother. It was subsequently claimed that it belonged to another named party. Neither of these third parties claimed ownership. Fifteen months after the seizure of cash another individual, Spartak Nikolla, an Albanian-born UK national, claimed ownership and said the cash was to be used to pay for an operation for his Albanian father in an unstated country. The operation didn’t take place.

Following an investigation by Revenue’s Investigations and Prosecutions Division, a file on the matter was referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions who directed the forfeiture proceedings.

The application was contested by counsel for Mr Nikolla. However Judge Nolan was not satisfied with the claims made on behalf of the respondent and ordered that the cash be forfeited to the State.