Vol. 564 No. 3
119 Mr. Penrose asked the Minister for Finance the investigations which have been undertaken by the Revenue Commissioners or other State bodies into a bank (details supplied) in relation to their selling and management of investments in the clerical medical international investment scheme; when the results of such investigations will be published; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9255/03]
I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that in 1998 they obtained details of 430 cases of investments made under the clerical medical insurance and NIB schemes. To date, 366 of these cases have been settled and 64 remain to be finalised. Of the cases not yet finalised, six are being dealt with by the revenue prosecution division. Currently, three of these cases are before the courts. One person pleaded guilty and their case is adjourned for sentencing. The other two cases were referred to the Circuit Court for trial. The Director of Public Prosecutions has given directions for a prosecution in another case and the remaining two cases are under ongoing investigation with a view to prosecution.
To date, Revenue has collected €44.57 million in tax, interest and penalties in respect of these cases. This sum is made up of €37.83 million in settled cases and €6.74 million in respect of payments on account in cases still under investigation. As part of a further review of its records by the financial institution concerned, a supplementary list containing 22 new cases was received by the Revenue Commissioners in April 2001. Of these, 15 involve relatively small sums and are unlikely to involve substantial tax evasion. All additional cases are being investigated as appropriate.
Aggregate results of the ongoing investigation have been published each year since 1998 in the annual reports of the Revenue Commissioners. In addition, details of individual settlements with the commissioners have also been published where they were in excess of the statutory requirement for publication; over €12,700.
