A London-based Irish businessman has agreed to pay more than £18m to criminal assets recovery agencies in Britain and Ireland following long-running investigations into ‘carousel fraud’.

Dylan Creaven, 32, originally from Ennis in County Clare, will pay the money as well as hand over four racehorses and a villa in Marbella, Spain to the UK’s Assets Recovery Agency (ARA) and Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau, according to The Independent.

Creaven founded Silicon Technologies Europe Ltd, while in his twenties, and the company has offices in Boston and Singapore.

The deal follows years of legal proceedings and is the biggest haul yet achieved by the UK and Irish recovery agencies.

In May last year a jury at Blackfriars Crown Court found Creaven not guilty of organising what was described as Britain's biggest VAT fraud.