Tax cheat’s firm sees profits increase

A STEEL company owned by one of the country’s biggest tax cheats managed to increase its profits despite making a near €10 million payment to the Revenue Commissioners.

Leslie Reynolds & Company, owned by the eponymous businessman and his family, made a pre-tax profit of €447,953 in the year to end April 2006. This is up from €360,020 in the previous 12 months period, according to accounts just filed at the Companies Registration Office.

Mr Reynolds made a €9.5m settlement with the Revenue Commissioners in 2005 and received a three-month jail sentence after being found guilty of tax evasion by the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.

The court found that Mr Reynolds, who is in his mid-70s, had manipulated the company’s customer records, posted incorrect invoices, set up false companies and sequestered money in undeclared bank accounts over several years.

According to the company’s accounts, turnover for the year rose to €16.6m from €14.8m.

The rise in profits in 2006 also helped reduce the retained deficit in the company’s accounts. The deficit at the year end fell to €3.7m from €4.2.m. Total net assets rose to €5.7m from €2.6m, mainly as a result of a fall in payments to short-term credits fall to €5.5m from €8.7m.