Taxpayers face E2m Ansbacher bill
The Ansbacher offshore tax scam originally hit the headlines when the tortuous money trail linking Charles Haughey to donations from Ben Dunne was uncovered by the McCracken Tribunal.
To date the Ansbacher inquiry has resulted in the recovery of E27 million in cases involving more than 70 of the 289 identified account holders.
However, the Government’s attempt to recover the cost of the investigation floundered yesterday as a High Court settlement saw just over a third of costs returned to the State by banks involved in the investigation.
High Court proceedings issued by Justice Minister Michael McDowell were struck out after the Government received legal advice that the recovery of 3.4 million in costs from Ansbacher Cayman Limited, the Central Bank and seven other companies was unlikely to succeed.
After a morning of negotiations between both parties an out-of-court settlement was reached involving the payment of E1.2 million towards the costs of the investigation. The court then struck out the case at the request of Gerard Hogan, senior counsel for Minister McDowell, leaving the taxpayer to foot the rest of the bill.
Raising the issue in the Dáil during leaders questions yesterday Labour Leader Pat Rabbitte criticised the settlement, saying it would have been in the taxpayer’s interest to proceed with the case. “I would have thought there would be an advantage in bringing them to court.
“Given that this involves taxpayers’ money, can the Taoiseach say if an enforceable order for full value can now be registered against an entity in this jurisdiction?” he said.
Mr Ahern said legal advice had been received to the effect that the case would not stand up if pursued.
“This is part of a significant recovery of taxes and of dealing with those who abused their position in Irish society to defraud the State of taxes in one form or another.
“Time and again we have recovered those sums and forced people into legitimate business,” he said.
Apart from Ansbacher Cayman Limited the companies being pursued for costs included: Hamilton Ross Company Limited; Guinness and Mahon (Ireland) Limited; Guinness Mahon and company Limited (London); Henry Ansbacher Holdings plc, Cement Roadstone Holdings plc; Bank of Ireland\Private Banking limited and Irish Intercontinental Bank (IIB).
Previous High Court decisions had already ruled it had no jurisdiction to make orders for costs against parties named in a report but not the primary subject of the report’s investigation, the companies argued.
In a statement released after the casethe IIB confirmed it would not be making any contribution towards the costs of the Ansbacher Inspectors inquiry. The outcome of this application as regards IIB is consistent with the findings of the Inspectors to Ansbacher which concluded “that IIB Bank was not actually aware of the true nature of the Ansbacher activities in Ireland”, the statement said.
