Tom Mulcahy, the former chief executive of AIB, has strongly criticised the bank's actions during last year's crisis over alleged tax evasion by past and present executives, writes John McManus
Mr Mulcahy was one of two unnamed former executives the bank said had "tax issues" in May 2004. His name subsequently emerged in the media and, despite issuing a statement claiming that he was tax compliant, Mr Mulcahy stepped down as chairman of Aer Lingus.
In an interview with Business This Week in today's Irish Times, Mr Mulcahy said a subsequent examination of his affairs by the Revenue Commissioners has confirmed that he was tax compliant in May last year.
He said he had made a voluntary disclosure to the Revenue the previous year in respect of an offshore account containing "several hundred thousand" that dated from when he worked in the UK for the bank. "I am not saying that I was always compliant. I made a voluntary disclosure and paid what I thought was due which is the right open to all citizens," he said.
Part of this settlement was refunded to him following the follow-up investigation.
Mr Mulcahy added that the Revenue also looked at his governance of the tax aspects of the bank's remuneration policy for executives during his tenure as chief executive between 1994 and 2001 and found no fault.
The Revenue also accepted his statement, made in May last year, that he had no knowledge of an offshore investment vehicle used by a number of former AIB executives called Faldor.
Mr Mulcahy said AIB gave him no notice that it was issuing the statement and he was not given a chance to explain his tax situation.
"Why did nobody ask me about my tax affairs before releasing that statement? It's a reasonable question.
"It is very odd in the sense that I was there 29 years and a press release emerges at two minutes' notice.
"Then the next day, my name emerges as one of the people with tax issues. One has to assume that was not a happy accident," he said.
Mr Mulcahy said that he decided to step down from Aer Lingus because "I knew that I could not prove that I was absolutely tax compliant in a time frame that was relevant.
"It [Aer Lingus] was a State company and it had a lot of problems without my adding to it," he said.