Revenue face interesting time, says Ahern

TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern last night said the Revenue Commissioners faced "an interesting time" in the coming months pursuing tax bills arising from Ansbacher.

He also said he was confident successful prosecutions could be conducted.

Mr Ahern said the report showed that taxation and control systems in the past had been far too lax. He said the decision to compile and publish the mammoth report into the dubious offshore banking scheme was justified.

"There were grave doubts that it would ever come to anything so I am very happy it has been brought to fruition," the Taoiseach said.

He said the Dáil would meet on Thursday for a special one-day debate on Ansbacher. It is expected there will be calls for the relentless pursuit of those among the 190 Ansbacher fund holders found guilty of evading tax.

The High Court yesterday directed that all documentation in relation to the Ansbacher inquiry be retained and catalogued as privileged and non-privileged material and stored by the Courts Service.

The court granted the Director of Corporate Enforcement Paul Appleby the right to apply to see all the documentation.

These documents include all those in the 10,000-page report, along with other papers relating to cases investigated but not included in the final report. It will also include the names of individuals behind the companies cited in the report.

These papers hold the key to a decision on whether those cited in the report should face prosecution for breaches of tax, banking and company laws over the years Ansbacher operated from 1971 to 1996.

Lawyers for Justice Minister Michael McDowell told the court he will be seeking to recover at least some of the 2.3m euro cost of the Ansbacher report from certain parties named in it. An application will be made in two weeks' time. The Minister is seeking to recoup costs from companies deemed culpable in the report rather than individuals cited.

The Courts Service is now effectively the guardian of the Ansbacher files. All the documentation gathered by the inspectors over nearly three years and the report itself will be indexed and held by it until the courts order otherwise.

Staff in bodies like the Director of Corporate Enforcement and the Revenue Commissioners must seek High Court approval to get access to these documents. They must also publish advertisements stating their intention to seek access.