Suspended sentence for yacht firm director over VAT offences

The director of a yacht company has been given a two-year suspended sentence after he pleaded to Revenue offences where he underdeclared almost €380,000 in VAT payments.

Hugh Mockler (54), of Windward, Fennell's Bay, Myrtleville, Co Cork had pleaded guilty at Cork Circuit Criminal Court to 15 charges related to VAT returns between May 2008 and September 2010.

The State had alleged Mockler, being the director of HM Yachts Ltd, did consent and connive with the company to knowingly or wilfully declare an incorrect VAT sum to the Revenue Commissioners.

Downturn in business

The court heard Mockler had borrowed money from VAT payments to try to trade through the recession when there was a downturn in his yacht business.

Defence counsel, Eoin Clifford BL, said it was Mockler who had drawn the attention of Revenue Commissioners to the underpayment, which he had estimated was about €365,000.

However, when Revenue Commissioners carried out an audit of the company, they found the sum of VAT underpayment over the three-year period amounted to €379,000, the court heard.

Mr Clifford said it would be difficult to find a better example of a victim of the Celtic Tiger collapse than Mockler, as the yacht business was hit hard by the recession.

Borrowed from friends

He said Mockler had done everything he could to make restitution to the Revenue Commissioners and had borrowed from friends and was now in a position to pay back €104,000.

However Mockler, who had got a job with a local boatyard working on a commission basis, was unable to pay back any more, said Mr Clifford, asking the court to be as lenient as possible.

Judge Sean Ó Donnabhain noted Mockler’s guilty pleas and the fact he had alerted the Revenue Commissioners to the underpayment and had co-operated fully with them.

He also noted there had been no falsification of documentation as sometimes happened in such cases, and accepted Mockler had used the money to try to keep his business afloat.

Judge Ó Donnabhain said recent jurisprudence on such Revenue offences had moved from an automatic prison sentence to a more balanced approach involving a suspended sentence.

He noted Mockler had repaid over €100,000 as he sentenced him to two years in jail, but suspended the sentence on condition he would be of good behaviour for a period of two years.