Banks to be forced to name holders of bogus accounts

Banks and building societies will be forced to give details to the Revenue Commissioners of thousands of customers they suspect of having bogus non-resident accounts. The process will begin this week when the Revenue goes to the High Court to get orders compelling the banks to provide a list of accounts that are "most likely" to be bogus, according to chairman, Mr Dermot Quigley.

The tax authorities will then pursue the account holders for any tax due on the money in the accounts, plus interest and penalties. The Revenue announced yesterday that £176 million (€223 million) has already been collected through a voluntary disclosure scheme that closed last Thursday. Under the scheme, interest and penalties were capped at 100 per cent of the tax due.

Mr Quigley refused to say how much more tax he thought could be collected and warned that the investigation could take years. "The truth is that nobody knows." The chairman described the £176 million raised through the voluntary scheme as an "excellent outcome" particularly as four weeks ago the level of take-up had been less than £10 million. "It has been anything other than a damp squib," he said.

Eleven people made settlements over £1 million while another 60 paid over £500,000. Many of the larger account holders would have settled under the scheme knowing at this stage that the Revenue had become aware of their accounts from its audit of the banks involved last year.

The expected bias towards large account holders in the voluntary scheme made it impossible to estimate the amount of tax outstanding.

It was also possible that many of the bogus non-resident account holders would have taken advantage of previous tax amnesties, said Mr Quigley.

The Revenue estimates around 3,000 people availed of the voluntary scheme, most of whom had two accounts or more. In total, some 6,500 bogus accounts were declared, but the number still undeclared could be between 25,000 and 45,000, implying, said Mr Quigley, that around 20,000 people may be investigated.

The names of those individuals who make settlements on foot of investigations now being commenced will be published and "suitable cases will be selected with a view to criminal prosecution", said Mr Quigley.

Opposition politicians backed the plan for prosecutions. Mr Jim Mitchell, the Fine Gael deputy leader who chaired a parliamentary inquiry into the problem said "there must be no more concessions and no more leniency for people who have already got too many chances".

The Labour party leader, Mr Ruair∅ Quinn said the Revenue Commissioners "must ensure that no mercy is shown".