Spate of tax evaders came forward

The Revenue Commissioners have revealed that 281 bogus non-resident account holders have come forward in the past three weeks to settle their affairs with the Exchequer.

The revelation was made at the launch of the Revenue's annual report for 2002, which showed that more than €700m was collected from bogus offshore account holders during the year.

Most of the money was collected from people who evaded tax through the Ansbacher scheme and the National Irish Bank's CMI scheme.

The Revenue report revealed that €29.2bn in taxes was collected last year, €1.2bn below budget estimates, but a €1.25bn increase on the figures for 2001.

The report also showed that Ireland's national debt fell by 1% to 3% in 2002, while drugs with an estimated street value of €33.5bn and 75 million illegal cigarettes were also seized during the year.