Ireland will today sign up to an agreement that will allow investigators from any EU state to request details of bank accounts held in Ireland - provided they are the subject of a criminal investigation.
At a meeting of EU ministers discussing measures to counter terrorism, Minister for Justice, Mr O’Donoghue will sign the protocol, which was agreed last May.
"The protocol will build on existing co-operation among member states and strengthen further the ability of law enforcement authorities to trace monies arising from criminal activity," the Minister said.
The original aim of the protocol was to supplement existing provisions for combating finance-related crime such as money-laundering but after the attacks on the US last month, the protocol will also be used as part of the ‘war on terrorism’.
The main provisions of the protocol that will be signed today are:
Article 1:a list of bank accounts held by a person or company that is the subject of criminal proceedings is provided as quickly as possible
Article 2:information is provided on banking transactions on the accounts for a specified period
Article 3:monitoring of the accounts is allowed for a specified period
Article 4:states to make provision for confidentiality when dealing with such requests
Article 5:the authority examining the accounts should carry out further investigations if they deem it necessary and inform the authority who made the request
Article 6:the requesting authority need not provide additional information when asking for assistance subsequent to the first request
Article 7:a state may not invoke banking secrecy provisions
Article 8:a state may not invoke fiscal offence provisions
Article 9:a state may not refuse to implement a request