The Revenue Commissioners revealed this morning they collected over €700 million from special investigations into Bogus Non-resident Accounts, Ansbacher and National Irish Bank/CMI last year.
Speaking at the launch of the Revenue's Annual Report 2002 in Dublin Castle, the commissioners chairman Mr Frank Daly issued a stark warning to tax evaders - they should come to the Revenue before Revenue comes to them.
He said that in the past three weeks alone, 281 Irish people who used accounts or trust structures in offshore jurisdictions to conceal tax evasion had come forward to Revenue. Some 254 of these people had used trust structures with Bank of Ireland Trust Company Jersey Ltd.
Mr Daly said tax evaders were being actively tracked down, and Revenue's new powers have proved extremely effective in identifying offshore evasion. He said people were very wrong to think their concealment would not be discovered, in the same way that Ansbacher and National Irish Bank/CMI clients were wrong.
"It should be clear by now that there are no longer any safe havens for hot money - whether onshore or offshore," he said.
Investigations into the National Irish Bank Clerical Medical Insurance scheme have resulted in the settlement of 373 cases totalling €45.94 million.
Mr Daly also spoke of the complexities surrounding the Ansbacher investigations, saying that 211 cases have been under active investigation, with payments of over €23 million been received in respect of 73 cases. Of these, only 11 have been finalised.
The chairman said Revenue was experiencing difficulty with around 130 cases, due mainly to the refusal of the parties involved to engage with them. The problems involving the amount of evidence and documentation outside the State is also proving difficult, but he said that he was hopeful of "a breakthrough in the next year or so".
Mr Daly also revealed that there were 80 active inquiries as a result of the Flood and Moriarty tribunals, and that around €18 million had been given on account from parties involved in both tribunals.
The report also showed that drugs with an estimated street value of over €33.5 million were seized in 2002. Around 75 million cigarettes and 7,583 kgs of tobacco worth over €20 million along with alcohol with a retail value of €625,000 was also seized.