I am advised by the Revenue Commissioners that their Ansbacher review team has inquired into 289 cases to date, 109 of which have been finalised. The 289 cases, taking account of spouses and connected companies, consist of 300 names. They are made up of 179 cases listed on the High Court inspectors' report and 110 similar cases discovered by Revenue or listed on the authorised officer's report.
A total of 211 cases have been under active investigation. The remaining cases consist of 62 non-resident persons, including 17 former Irish residents, 12 individuals who claimed the 1993 amnesty provisions and four cases with insufficient identity information. The investigation includes examining the tax position of disclosed entities and accumulating and assembling information on other connected entities. The number of connected entities in regard to cases under investigation is now almost 700. Revenue is making extensive use of its legislative powers to seek books, records, documents and information in the cases being investigated. Where appropriate, prosecutions will be considered but these will depend on the level of evidence available. Revenue has made six successful applications to the High Court for the production by financial institutions and third parties of books, records and other documentation, which are relevant to liabilities of Ansbacher account holders. Some 200,000 documents have been received under the terms of the High Court orders. Advanced investigative computer software is used in controlling and managing the documentation.
To date a total of €45.53 million has been received, consisting of settlements and payments on account, in respect of 95 cases. This is detailed in the following table.
|
Cases
|
€ million
|
|
Cases involving Ansbacher or Ansbacher type arrangements
|
77 cases
|
36.22
|
|
Other cases involving offshore funds or deposits
|
18 cases
|
9.31
|
|
Total
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95 cases
|
45.53
|
The 109 cases which have been finalised consist of 66 cases which were settled on payments of €35.62 million, included in the amount above, 26 non-resident cases which are covered by the provisions of double taxation agreements and 17 which had no additional liability, of which two were covered by the 1993 amnesty provisions.
Revenue made an application under section 11 of the Companies Act 1990 for a copy of the High Court inspectors' report. This was made available to Revenue on 6 July 2002. The information in this report has been carefully considered as regards the tax liabilities of the persons concerned. In addition, Revenue made a further application to the High Court for access to the supporting papers to the High Court inspectors' report. Judgment was delivered by the president of the High Court in May 2004 to allow access to documents relating to clients of Ansbacher named in the report and those persons and companies found by the High Court inspectors to have failed to co-operate with their inquiry.
The judgment also allows for Revenue to make application and grounding affidavit for the obtaining of information and documents relating to any other individual or company. Access to documents is subject to the direction of the High Court. The High Court orders in the matter were granted in June 2004 and perfected in January 2005. Revenue has applied on foot of the orders for access to documentation in respect of certain cases named in the High Court inspectors' report. The documentation is awaited.
Revenue has informed me the investigations are time-consuming and complex and are likely to continue for some time to come.
