ABN Amro Bank, based at Dublin's International Financial Services Centre, has made a settlement of £46,792 (€59,456) with the Revenue Commissioners over non-resident accounts.
The settlement relates to an underlying DIRT liability of £8,338 with a further £38,454 paid in interest and penalties. In a statement, ABN Amro's chief executive in Ireland, Mr Brian Murphy, said the bank was satisfied it had no bogus accounts in the period covered by the Revenue DIRT audit. "The settlement arose in respect of a very small number of cases relating to documentation that was not complete or was missing," said Mr Murphy. Very few incidents were involved, he added.
The settlement comes as the Dail Committee of Public Accounts considers a report from the Revenue Commissioners detailing how much tax was recouped from 37 of the State's financial institutions following an audit ordered by the committee. The DIRT audit has so far brought in £167 million to the Exchequer and covers the period 1986 to 1999.
Revenue chairman Mr Dermot Quigley will appear before the PAC at the end of the month to explain further the audit process and answer committee members' questions.
It met in private session yesterday and will spend the coming weeks making arrangements to call certain individuals to attend the next hearing.
These will include Central Bank governor Mr Maurice O'Connell and the Secretary of the Department of Finance, Mr John Hurley.
