I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that in 1998 they obtained details of 430 cases with investments made under the clerical medical insurance – NIB schemes. To date 319 of these cases have been settled and 111 are still under investigation, 11 of which are for possible prosecution through the courts. The Revenue has collected €35.12 million, £27.66 million, in tax, interest and penalties in respect of these cases up to now. This is made up of €27.47 million, £21.63 million, in settled cases and €7.65 million, £6.02 million, in respect of payments on account in cases still under investigation.
Following a further review of its records by the financial institution concerned, a supplementary list containing 22 new cases was received by Revenue in April 2001. Of these, 15 cases involve relatively small sums and are unlikely to involve substantial tax evasion. All the additional cases are being investigated as appropriate.