Man suspected to be linked to East Belfast UVF ordered to pay £60k proceeds of crime money

On Tuesday a judge at Belfast’s High Court ordered Paul Mawhinney (50), from Dundonald, to pay back the money under The Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 after issuing a Civil Recovery Order.

The money will come from the sale of a motorhome valued at £45,000 with an additional sum of £15,000 to be paid.

The NCA said all of the money comes from the proceeds of fraud and another criminal enterprise.

Mawhinney was given seven days to come up with an initial £50,000 with six months to pay the rest.

NCA Operations Manager Steven Brown said: “Working as part of the PCTF we are determined to use all the tools at our disposal to target those impacting our communities through paramilitary crime.

“The NCA’s civil recovery and tax powers allow us to hit them in the pocket and strip away the assets they have obtained through their criminal activity.

“This result demonstrates that our financial investigators will find and recover the proceeds of crime, no matter how carefully they have been hidden.”

The NCA, Police Service of Northern Ireland and HM Revenue & Customs established the PCTF to tackle criminality linked to paramilitary activity as part of the Executive's action plan on Tackling Paramilitary Activity, Criminality, and Organised Crime.