Money laundering - Progress for State against fraudsters

WHILE the vast majority of workers pay taxes on the nail, under a PAYE system that leaves little scope for extramural activities, so to speak, a lot of people resort to money laundering either to conceal criminal activities or avoid the revenue net.

Money laundering literally means washing ill-gotten gains or undeclared taxable income through layers of the financial system in order to give it a veneer of respectability.

Compliant taxpayers will be reassured to know the Revenue Commissioners are currently pursuing almost 30 prosecutions based on reports of suspected money laundering involving millions of euros.

Anecdotally, money laundering is endemic in post-Celtic Tiger Ireland. Since new legislation was introduced here four years ago, the Revenue has received 32,700 suspicious reports, ranging from property deals, to VAT transactions or personal income.

Based on hard evidence, it has so far recovered €12 million in taxes from more than 80 investigations into financial transactions. Last year alone, almost 12,500 suspicious transactions above €15,000 were reported by banks, accountants, solicitors, tax advisers, and other professional interests.

This led to Garda and Revenue investigations of criminal activities, taxation cases and customs offences which usually involve oil, drugs and cigarette smuggling. The fact that nearly 700 audits have been triggered and a further 8,500 cases are either under scrutiny or marked for possible future investigation, is welcome proof that the State is slowly but surely gaining ground in the war against money laundering.