More than £32 million (€40.6 million) has been collected to date as a result of the continuing Revenue inquiries into the Ansbacher deposits and the National Irish Bank (NIB) offshore schemes.
Settlements totalling £17 million had been reached by May 31st this year with 281 of the 429 individuals known to have invested in the NIB schemes, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General's annual report for 2000 published yesterday. Of these cases, 79 were settled without any liability. In addition, payments on account of almost £7.3 million have been received in respect of other unresolved NIB cases. "12 cases have been referred for criminal investigation with a view to prosecution through the courts."
The Ansbacher inquiry has led to payments on account of £4.6 million from 24 people identified in the Ansbacher report compiled by the authorised officer, Mr Gerry Ryan.
Mr Ryan's report named 120 people and, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General, "offshore activity by persons other than those named in the report has also come to light during this ongoing investigation."
Payments on account of £3.1 million have been made in 15 cases "that have all the characteristics of the original Ansbacher list. Payments on account totalling £0.59 million have been received from six other cases."
Two Ansbacher cases have been settled - one for £200,000 and one with no liability.
The Revenue has been issuing formal requests under the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, seeking information from individuals, third parties and financial institutions. Four successful applications have been made to the High Court requiring third parties and financial institutions to provide information.
A further £479,944 has been collected by the Revenue as a result of its inquiry into the so-called "pick me up" schemes. These "pick-me-ups" involved expenses for goods or services incurred by a political party being invoiced by the supplier to another trader, who paid the supplier as a means of supporting the party.
Such payments were not deductible for tax purposes, the VAT was not reclaimable, and the invoices issued were not in accordance with legal requirements, according to the report. "The investigation has found that while some traders treated these payments correctly for tax purposes, quite a large number did not."
Settlements totalling £129,944 have been reached in 34 smaller cases including interest and penalties. Payments on account totalling in excess of £350,000 have been received in 16 larger cases, and investigations are ongoing in these and 20 other larger cases, according to the report.
On prosecutions for serious tax evasion the report says that of the 37 cases which were on hand at the end of last year, 19 are still under investigation, 13 are proceeding to prosecution, 3 have been closed and convictions have been secured in 2.
All three cases decided in the courts last year led to convictions. A company director was sentenced to two years in prison, another company director was fined £750, and a third individual was given a 12 month suspended sentence.
A spokesman for the Revenue said yesterday that it was not valid to compare the number of prosecutions for serious tax evasion being pursued by the Revenue with prosecutions for Social Welfare fraud.
There are 12 Revenue cases currently before the courts or about to come to court. Last year there were 185 social welfare prosecutions.
However the spokesman said that prosecuting a serious tax evasion case was a much more complex matter than a social welfare case. Social welfare cases would be more properly compared with failure to file tax returns, of which there were more than 1,000 cases last year.
On the DIRT inquiry the report reveals the Comptroller and Auditor General's office examined the overall DIRT lookback audit.
"I am satisfied that the approach and methodology employed by Revenue were reasonable given the circumstances and timescale in which they had to operate," states the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr John Purcell.
