Ballinrobe man loses bid to recover €80,000 cash seized in cigarette raid

A JUDGE described as ‘a work of fiction’ the reason a Mayo man who was found in possession €80,000 in cash in his home gave for it not being the proceeds of crime.

Olegs Leontjevs from Ballinrobe, received an 18-month suspended prison sentence for the possession of unstamped cigarettes at Castlebar Circuit Criminal Court. The €80,000 in cash found in his home was also forfeited.

Mr Leontjevs pleaded guilty to the possession of unstamped cigarettes after Customs and Excise officers found 45,760 cigarettes in his home following a search on October 31, 2019. They also seized €80,621 in cash during the search, including €74,000 found in a black bag.

Mr Leontjevs’s home was placed under surveillance by the Customs and Excise after they received a tip-off that he had been selling cigarettes.

He denied that he had been selling the cigarettes, saying that he and his wife smoked a lot, and he denied the cash was the proceeds of crime.

Compensation

Mr Brendan McDonagh, counsel for Mr Leontjevs, said his client had received €380,000 in compensation as a result of a workplace accident in 2010.

Mr Leontjevs, a Russian national, told the court with the assistance of an interrupter that he did not trust banks, as he had been defaulted twice in the past. As a result, he said, he had been taking out approximately €1,000 a month over the last ten years and intended to buy an apartment for his daughter with the money.

The court heard that Mr Leontjevs bought 123,076 cigarettes ten days before his house was searched, and when asked by Mr Patrick Reynolds, counsel for the prosecution if he smoked them all, he replied ‘of course not’.

Mr Reynolds said that in March 2020, €226,911.77 from the compensation payout was lodged into Mr Leontjevs’s Bank of Ireland account, while in November 2019, there had been €33,000 in the account. When asked what had happened the rest of the money, Mr Leontjevs said he had paid off his mortgage and bought a car and a house in Bulgaria.

Mr McDonagh said that the State could not prove the money was as a result of crime, but Mr Reynolds said that the State did not have to prove it beyond doubt, asserting that Mr Leontjevs was not able to prove where the money had come.

Money counter

Judge Eoin Garavan described Mr Leontjevs’ account as a work of fiction and found in favour of the prosecution’s bid retain the seized cash.

“He could not tell the truth if it bit him,” Judge Garavan said.

In relation to the charge before the court, Mr McDonagh said both his client and his client’s wife are on disability and Mr Leontjevs has not come to the attention of the Gardaí since 2019. He also stated that his client is considered a low risk of reoffending and not suitable for community service due to his injury.

Judge Garvavan said that while Mr Leontjevs was not charged with selling cigarettes he could not ignore the fact he was in possession of a money counter.

Judge Garavan imposed a 18-month sentence but suspended it in its entirety for two years, He also ordered the destruction of the seized cigarettes.