Celtic League Presses Irish Public Accounts Committee For Inquiry Into Tax Evasion

by Amanda Banks, Tax-news.com, London

10 April 2001

Points raised in a letter written by the Celtic League raising concerns over the roles of offshore financial institutions within the practice of tax evasion are currently being considered by the Irish Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC), according to press reports.

Specifically the Celtic League is calling upon the PAC - if it has not already done so - to conduct an inquiry into Irish bank deposits made in the Isle of Man. This is a matter over which the PAC itself raised some concerns in December of last year. At the time, we reported that the PAC said it would probe the 'quite amazing amount of money' held by Irish banks and institutions on the Isle of Man. The amounts are thought to total between £3bn and £4bn and in a major attempt to crack down on tax evasion, the PAC Chairman, Jim Mitchell, called for jail sentences for 'white collar crime'.

However, the Celtic League says it is unaware that any such investigation took place and chairman, Bernard Moffat, decided to write to the PAC after a number of recent high profile cases were highlighted by the media connecting financial institutions in the Isle of Man with tax evasion activities in Ireland. He wrote: 'In May 2000 we wrote to the Irish Justice Minister, John O'Donoghue TD, asking if he would publicly name banks involved in handling criminal assets. He declined to do so. I understand that your committee was to call evidence on the question of Irish - Manx financial links in January. Could you advise if your enquiries into these matters are now concluded and if any report of the conclusions reached is publicly available.'

The Celtic League has branches in the six Celtic Countries of the western British Isles and Brittany promoting cooperation between these countries and campaigns on a broad range of political, cultural and environmental matters.

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