AN ACCOUNTANT charged with aiding and abetting the filing of incorrect tax returns admitted filling in the form in question and signing it, a senior Revenue official told a Waterford court.
Patrick Faughnan, a senior inspector of taxes in the Prosecution Division of the Revenue, told the trial of John O'Donohue how he and his colleague, Liam Liston, interviewed Mr O'Donohue at his office at Waterside House, Co Waterford, on July 10th, 2002.
Mr Faughnan said they asked Mr O'Donohue whether he had filled in a VAT return form for a company called Paclene Ltd and if he had signed it, and Mr O'Donohue confirmed he had.
Mr O'Donohue told them he was aware of the sale by Paclene of a property in Ennis for £1.6 million but that he was not aware of the details, and he told them that the owner of Paclene, Austin Brady, had told him "he was going to look after the VAT".
Mr O'Donohue denies a charge that he knowingly aided and abetted Paclene to deliver an incorrect return in relation to VAT for the period March/April 2001.
The case at Waterford Circuit Criminal Court revolves around Paclene's purchase on March 22nd, 2001, of a factory in Ennis for £600,000 and its sale on the same day for £1.6 million to Galileo Enterprises. The State alleges Paclene was entitled to a 12 per cent VAT rebate of £75,000 on its £600,000 purchase of the premises but had a 12 per cent VAT liability of £200,000 on its subsequent £1.6 million sale and that none of these were declared.
Mr Faughnan said Mr O'Donohue told them he had not seen an invoice issued on foot of the sale of the property to Galileo.
Mr Faughnan said that Mr O'Donohue had answered all their questions willingly and provided them with his full file on the matter but they did not come across any copy in Mr O'Donohue's file of the VAT invoice for the sale of the property.
Mr Faughnan said that he didn't find a letter from January 26th, 2001, in the file which Mr O'Donohue said he received from Mr Brady advising him to file in Nil for VAT returns.
The trial earlier heard from John Clune, a principal officer with the Revenue, who carried out an audit at Paclene in 2000. He had found the company had a net liability for VAT plus interest and penalties for the period January 1999 to June 2000 of £167,747.
Mr Clune said he wrote to Mr Brady advising him of these liabilities on January 22nd, 2001 - some four days before Mr Brady wrote to Mr O'Donoghue asking him to file a Nil return. The case continues.
