Revenue Commissioners Identify Over 600 Ansbacher Links

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

06 November 2001

According to a recently released progress report from the Office of the Revenue Commissioners in Ireland, over 600 individuals and trusts have been linked to bogus non-resident accounts with Ansbacher bank.

Speaking last week, a Revenue spokesman said that of these links, around 29 have yet to be investigated, but signalled that the hunt for tax evaders was far from over. 'We are continuing to investigate with a view to collecting tax, interest, and penalties from all account holders,' he told the Irish Times.

Although the Revenue Commissioners Office has revealed that in some cases, payments on account have been made to prevent interest payments from building up any further, there will be nowhere to hide, even for tax evaders who eventually pay up. 'There are provisions that all of these people and companies shall be named,' the spokesman confirmed.

A separate High Court report on the issue is still being compiled, and although no formal decision has yet been made as to whether this list will also be published, the Tanaiste, Mary Harney, has said that she cannot envisage a circumstance in which it would not be.

In the Comptroller and Auditor General's report, published at the end of September, it was revealed that the ongoing inquiries into the Ansbacher and National Irish Bank accounts had resulted in the collection of more than £32 million from delinquent taxpayers.

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