The businessman, Mr Denis O'Brien, has successfully appealed a Revenue Commissioners' challenge to his tax residency status, it was learned last night. The Irish Times has also established that the Revenue Commissioners may yet seek a High Court review of the decision.
Mr O'Brien's case was heard by the Revenue Appeal Commissioners, who ruled in favour of him. The decision can only be challenged in the High Court on a point of law.
The Supreme Court yesterday refused Mr O'Brien's application to have proceedings heard in private aimed at stopping a Sunday newspaper alleging he had faced a 55 million tax claim after an investigation into his tax residency in Portugal. The court prohibited the publication of the report, but lifted reporting restrictions on the proceedings.
Mr O'Brien was resident in Portugal in 2000 at a time when he sold his stake in Esat Telecom to British Telecom for £230 million (€290 million).
At the time Portugal had a zero rate of capital gains tax, compared with 20 per cent in Ireland.
Yesterday, the Supreme Court lifted restrictions on the reporting of an application for an injunction by Mr O'Brien against the Sunday Business Post publishing a report containing the €55 million claim.
However, the court warned there was no suggestion that Mr O'Brien had not been honest in his dealings with the Revenue, and any insinuation to the contrary could involve "a grave breach of the law".
Counsel for Mr OBrien, Mr Michael Cush SC, told an earlier High Court hearing that the proposed article in the Sunday Business Post stated Mr O'Brien was facing a 55 million claim.
It followed an investigation into Mr O'Brien's tax residency in Portugal, the article was claiming.
Claims also emerged during the hearings that Mr O'Brien had since challenged the findings of the Revenue Appeal Commissioners and that a determination on the appeal was made late last month, although no details were given about the determination in court.
Mr O'Brien was yesterday said to be in Portugal. He owns the Quinta do Lago estate, an exclusive golfing and holiday resort in the Algarve.
His spokeswoman said: "Denis O'Brien was seeking as a point of principle to protect the confidentiality of his personal tax matters as any citizen would." She added he would not be commenting further.
Last night, a spokesman for the Revenue Commissioners refused to comment on any aspect of Mr O'Brien's tax affairs.
This week's Supreme Court hearing followed a previous High Court hearing on September 30th, in which Mr O'Brien failed in his application for an interlocutory injunction preventing publication of the report. He claimed the report breached confidentiality regarding cases before the Revenue Appeals Commissioners.
Mr Justice Henry Abbott refused the injunction on the basis of delay, rather than the merits of the case. He said significant detail regarding Mr O'Brien's tax affairs had already been published in the newspaper last May, and Mr O'Brien would have been able at the time to seek an order preventing publication of any further details of his tax affairs.
However, the judge granted a two-week stay on lifting the injunction and imposed reporting restrictions on the case, pending an appeal.
The judgment was appealed to the Supreme Court, which heard the case on Thursday. The court yesterday decided to lift the stay on reporting the case, determining it had no power to hear the proceedings in private.
The court decided to continue the stay preventing the Sunday Business Post from publishing the article until there was a full hearing of Mr O'Brien's appeal.
Ms Justice Catherine McGuinness said the court could not accept submissions on behalf of the newspaper to the effect that there was no right of confidentiality between the Revenue and a citizen.
