Court orders bank to provide offshore data

An Irish bank has to hand over information on an offshore subsidiary to the Revenue Commissioners following a court case that has boosted the State's investigation of tax evasion, reports Barry O'Halloran

Revenue chairman Mr Frank Daly told a Dáil committee yesterday that the High Court ordered the bank to give his office information and documents relating to an account held in Dublin by one of its offshore subsidiaries in the Channel Islands. The institution has 10 weeks to comply.

Mr Daly told the Dáil Committee of Public Accounts that the court's order covers the period between 1991 and 1996. He described the victory as an "important development".

"This material will enable the Revenue to advance its investigations into certain Ansbacher cases and to begin the second phase of its offshore account project," Mr Daly said.

He added that his office was preparing further High Court applications for orders requiring banks to hand over information and documents about their offshore activities.

A Revenue spokesman told The Irish Times last night that Mr Daly was not in a position to name the bank involved at the committee hearing yesterday because the case was heard in private.

The order was a significant victory for the Revenue because it gives them access to information held by an offshore subsidiary of an Irish bank, something that posed a potential legal hurdle to their investigation.

Earlier this year, the Revenue offered taxpayers with undeclared income, held in offshore subsidiaries of Irish banks, the opportunity to come forward voluntarily and declare their liabilities.

In return, it promised not to impose penalties, publish details of settlements and to drop criminal prosecutions. More than 15,000 people came forward and the investigation has yielded €677 million to the Exchequer.

However, anyone who failed to come forward by the June 10th deadline will have to pay full interest and penalties and could face prosecution, as well as having their names published on the Revenue's defaulters' list.

The second phase of the offshore investigation will involve identifying individuals with undeclared income who have not come forward and taking action against them.

During the hearing yesterday, Mr Daly told the committee that his office was in the process of prosecuting two individuals who did not disclose the full extent of their tax liabilities when they took advantage of an amnesty in 1993.

That amnesty was designed to lure "hot money" back to the State by giving non-compliant taxpayers immunity from prosecution if they made a full disclosure and paid the State what they owed.

However, the Revenue has identified a number of cases where individuals took advantage of the amnesty but did not make a full disclosure. Mr Daly said the Revenue faced a number of difficulties in successfully prosecuting these cases because the amnesty legislation protected confidentiality.