The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) (Irish: An Biúró um Shócmhainní Coiriúla) is a law enforcement agency in Ireland.

[13] This ability to share information was described by the Garda Síochána Inspectorate in its Crime Investigation Report of October 2014 as "a good model that could be replicated outside of CAB".

The Bureau is an essential component in the State’s law enforcement response to serious and organised crime and the Government is fully committed to further strengthening its powers through future legislative reform.

[23] The CAB collected €89 million in taxes in its first ten years of existence and it also engaged in initiatives to curtail international criminality.

[27] This anonymity, whilst causing some concerns, has been recognised an important practical issue for all countries when faced with action against people who may be involved in violent crime and extortion and recognises that although police and customs officers are usually trained to deal with such threats and to expect them, revenue and social security officials do not reasonably expect to have to deal with such risks when they take a job.

[39][40][41] The CAB was set up by the Oireachtas as a body corporate primarily for the purpose of ensuring that persons should not benefit from any assets acquired by them from any criminal activity.

[46] Even though the CAB focuses on serious and organised crime, it has increasingly moved against low- and medium-level offenders who may present as poor role models within their communities, albeit that these cases often cost more to bring than they return financially.

[48] Whilst novel to Ireland, the concept of forfeiture in the absence of a criminal conviction has a long ancestry, with roots in ancient Rome and evidence of its lineage in the Old Testament.

It has long been an important feature of the jurisprudence of the US and has recently been adopted in other common law jurisdictions, including the UK and the Cayman Islands, in their proceeds of crime legislation.

This Bill was listed before the Dáil on Friday 8 May 2015[54] and is viewed as a move by the Government to toughen the laws on confiscating criminals' assets and similarly is expected to yield a multimillion-euro windfall for the taxpayer.

Writing in 2014, one academic concluded: "The Proceeds of Crime Act was hastily rushed through parliament in the summer of 1996 in the wake of significant concerns surrounding organized crime and little thought was given to its implications, and likely effectiveness, of this legislation... Ireland will continue to be driven by this sense of populist punitiveness whereby harsh regimes are introduced for no other reason than that they are appealing.

"[49]Civil forfeiture holds with the view that it is not enough to prosecute the perpetrator but recognises the importance of also combatting the driving forces behind the criminal act.

One of the facts to be borne in mind is the extent to which, as a result of the commission of crime, persons may directly or indirectly benefit in a way not open to other members of the community, such as living without the requirements of payments of tax, mortgage repayments or rent.

[67] It noted that non-conviction based asset forfeiture model was also to be found in various countries: United States of America, Italy, Ireland, South Africa, UK, Australia and certain provinces of Canada.

[73] The statutory functions of the Criminal Assets Bureau include the taking of all necessary actions for the purpose of the freezing and confiscation of assets suspected of deriving from criminal activity and that such actions include, where appropriate, subject to any international agreement, cooperation with any police force or any authority outside Ireland which has functions related to the recovery of proceeds of crime.

[74][75][76] CAB represents Ireland at the Camden Assets Recovery Interagency Network (CARIN), a group which aims to improve informal cross-border and inter-agency cooperation within the European Union and elsewhere.

This Decision was designed to complete the CARIN by providing a legal basis for the exchange of information between Asset Recovery Offices of all the Member States.

[78] The Decision allows the AROs to exchange information and best practices, both upon request and spontaneously, regardless of their status (administrative, law enforcement or judicial authority).

It requests AROs to exchange information under the conditions laid down in Framework Decision 2006/960/JHA2 ("the Swedish Initiative") and in compliance with the applicable data protection provisions.

[79][80] In 2008 a Cross Border Fuel Fraud Enforcement Group was established by the Northern Ireland Security Minister, Paul Goggins, and operates under the auspices of the Organised Crime Task Force.

[82][83] The Criminal Assets Bureau is also represented on the Joint Agency Task Force, which was created under the "Fresh Start Agreement" to identify strategic priorities for combatting cross-border organised crime and to oversee operational co-ordination.

[84] The CAB is a member partner of Organised Crime Portfolio (OCP) (HOME/2011/ISEC/AG/FINEC/400000222) which is funded by EU Commission, DG Home Affairs and is carried out by an international consortium coordinated by Transcrime – Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Milan, Italy).