Ahoy there me hearties, someone is charging the Seychelles government and their Irish protectors with financial piracy.

A lawsuit filed in New York this week raises some interest if only to indicate where Irish Gardai go when the pension levy hits.

Dr. George Xiao today filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York seeking to recover $8.5 million that he alleges the Republic of Seychelles illegally seized from his solar energy company in 2008. The complaint also seeks over $30 million in consequential damages. The Seychelles Government has offered no credible explanation or formal justification for its seizure of the assets deposited in the Barclays Bank branch in Seychelles and refuses to return the money.

Named in the lawsuit are three members of the Seychelles Financial Investigation Unit who Dr. Xiao claims

has subcontracted its operations to three Irish nationals, Barry Galvin, Liam Hogan, and Declan Barber, each of whom is named individually as a defendant. According to the complaint, Galvin and Hogan are former members of the Irish national police force and secret police. According to the complaint, these rogue subcontractors have no background in banking or financial matters and reportedly receive substantial commissions based on the amount of funds they seize.

The complaint further alleges that Hogan and Barber have committed perjury and have brazenly and routinely ignored court orders. “Anyone who has been convicted of a crime in Ireland on the strength of their testimony should consider petitioning the court for a new trial,� Weiner said.

Well I’m wondering about the claim that the three have no background in financial matters firstly never mind the assertion from Xiao’s lawyer that criminals in Ireland might get ready to challenge their convictions!!

Barry Galvin is former head of the Criminal Assets Bureau and solicitor (not a Garda!), Liam Hogan, Fomer Garda Superintendent (and used to policing in Palestine), and Declan Barber (no idea if he was a Garda from my initial research) are the men running the Financial watchdogs based in the sunshine. Barber also acts as Honorary Consul for Ireland. I did note that several other former senior Garda have been training the Seychelles police force this year. There is a lot of resentment between them and the local coppers it seems, the wages for the former Irish Gardai far outstrip the natives and their policing tactics have been a little unpopular.

The background to the law suit as per Dr. Xiao’s PR company is

In December 2008, Dr. Xiao sought to establish a bank account for his company at Barclays Bank in Seychelles in order to receive wire transfers from a client in Asia. According to the complaint filed today, Barclays repeatedly delayed opening the account and failed to provide the necessary account documents and information. It turned out that at the same time, Barclays was working with the FIU to plan the seizure of the funds.

When the account was finally opened, Barclays and Seychelles officials immediately seized the assets. Neither Barclays nor the FIU has ever provided Dr. Xiao with a copy of FIU’s formal justification for seizing the company’s assets. The complaint also alleges that Barclays and Seychelles officials in 2009 engaged in a fraudulent scheme to seize additional deposits made by Dr. Xiao’s company.

So there you go – watch this space or not depending on the nature of the trial if it ever gets there. Ireland’s gangland criminals now know where the lads who took the money off them/banged them up are living if they didn’t know already.

Update:

It seems quite a few Irish bloggers and journalists were contacted yesterday about Dr. Xiao and the Irish ex gardai. See Dearbhail McDonald’s piece in the Irish Independent today  for more pieces of the missing jigsaw.