Witness has 'no idea' how many Range Rovers he bought in boom

A witness in the trial of a car dealer charged with evasion of vehicle registration tax on luxury cars has said he bought too many new cars to remember in 2006.

John Dunne (aged 39) of Monastery Park, Clondalkin has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to eight counts of evading VRT on five high-spec Range Rovers and three top-end Audi vehicles.

Mr Dominic McGinn SC, prosecuting, told the jury in his opening address that it would hear evidence

that Mr Dunne deliberately understated the specification of the luxury cars in order to avoid paying higher rates of tax.

He said: “The cars in this case were at the luxury end of the market. They were all purchased in the UK and imported here. Evidence will show that he (Mr Dunne) deliberately understated the

specification of the vehicles.”

“Even if the vehicles weren't presented by him it was done on his behalf. He was the person who stood to gain."

The cars listed in the charges are three Audi Q7 3.0 TDI Quattro S-line, three Range Rover 3.0 TD6 5 door and two Range Rover 2.7 TDV6 Sport HSE, all registered between June 2005 and September 2007.

Stephen Tyrrell, of Iris Security Solutions, gave evidence of buying a Range Rover Vogue model in 2006 from Mr Dunne at Tony Boland Car Sales on the Naas Road.

Mr Tyrrell told the jury that he had no idea how many Range Rovers he had purchased in 2006.

He said: “I have no idea. Maybe two or three. It was crazy tiger stuff. I changed my cars a number of times in 2006.”

He said he was later visited by officers from the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) who told him the car could be seized at any time because of a problem involving an underpayment in VRT of several thousand euro.

He agreed with Remy Farrell SC, defending, that he was later informed that the car wouldn't be taken off him because Mr Dunne had “made good” the underpayment.

An official attached to CAB, who cannot be identified because of his position, told Mr McGinn that VRT is payable on any car that is newly registered in the state and that the amount of VRT depends on the car.

He said: “For all cars larger than 2 litres, tax is assessed at 30% of the value of the car.”

He said that during the trial, due to last two weeks, the court would hear evidence of how the value of a car is defined by Revenue as the Open Market Selling Price, or what the car is reasonably expected to fetch on an open market.

The trial continues before Judge Yvonne Murphy a jury of five men and seven women.