Former FF TD faces landmark ‘ethics’ prosecution

IN a landmark prosecution under new ethics legislation, a former Fianna Fáil TD yesterday denied misleading Revenue to obtain a certificate to satisfy the Standards in Public Office Commission that he was tax compliant.

The State is claiming that Michael Collins, after being elected to the Dáil in May 2002, obtained a tax clearance certificate by making a false declaration.

It was claimed at Limerick Circuit Court that Mr Collins, now 66, concealed tax liabilities amounting to €130,602.

Mr Collins, of Redhouse Hill, Patrickswell, is the first member of the Oireachtas to be charged under the legislation brought in 2001.

The prosecution case centres around an undisclosed, bogus non-resident, account at an AIB branch in Kilmallock, which was in the names of a couple, Joe and Ann Collins, with an address in Surrey, England. The accused, the State claims, was the beneficial owner of the money in the account.

The accused pleaded not guilty to a charge that, on a date unknown between May 2 and June 12 in 2002, he obtained a tax clearance certificate by making declarations to the Revenue that he knew to be false.

Opening the case to a jury of seven men and five women, Tom O’Connell SC for the State, said the accused was obliged to obtain a tax clearance certificate on being elected to the Dáil under new standards in Public Office legislation enacted in 2001 to ensure that the legislators were complying with the tax laws.

The former Limerick West TD duly got his tax clearance certificate on May 30, 2002, and submitted it to the Standards in Public Office Commission after making a declaration to Revenue, which the State claims was false.

Mr O’Connell said the State would claim the accused had a bogus non-resident account from some time in 1984 to 1988 from which certain tax liabilities arose. He said a highly publicised Revenue drive had commenced in May 2001 to detect bogus non-resident accountsin various financialinstitutions.

Investigations, he said, continued to chase up those who did not come forward voluntarily. As a result, Michael Collins was contacted on January 20, 2003.

Eventually, he said, the accused admitted the existence of the account, which was in the name of Joe and Ann Collins.

Initially, the Revenue estimated the account in Kilmallock had a tax liability of €274,878. On re-examining the account the Revenue reduced the liability to €130,602 and a refund was made.

As part of the investigation trawl, 177,000 letters of inquiry were sent out. Mr Collins received two: one at is home address and another at the Railway hotel in Limerick.

The Collector General Liam Irwin told the court that in May 2004 he became aware of a problem regarding Mr Collins that now concerned the court. People with undisclosed bogus accounts, he said, would not be given tax clearance certificates if the Revenue were aware of this.

The case went into legal argument yesterday afternoon in the absence of the jury.