PAC to quiz Revenue as more Ansbacher claims emerge
PUBLIC Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman John McGuinness has confirmed that the Revenue Commissioners will this week be quizzed over the explosive Ansbacher dossier.
Representatives from the tax authority will be questioned by TDs over an investigation carried out into allegations of widespread tax evasion by a number of former senior politicians.
The individuals in question, many of whom are household names, allegedly held accounts at Guinness & Mahon, the bank at the centre of the offshore tax evasion scandal.
The claims, made by serving civil servant Gerry Ryan, have already been referred to a number of state authorities including the Gardai, Revenue and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement.
But Mr Ryan alleges that no action has been taken in relation to his inquiry which he says was shut down prior to completion.
The showdown with Revenue comes as it emerged that Mr Ryan sent a separate file to Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin in 2008 about a $US400,000 payment.
Mr Martin was Minister for Enterprise when he received the file from the official.
Mr Ryan unearthed details of the payment, made from an account in New York to the Ansbacher deposits; four years after his inquiry had been shut down.
Details of the payment were obtained by the United Kingdom Department of Trade and Industry from the London branch of Guinness and Mahon at the request of the Irish whistleblower.
However, according to Ryan, a substantial number of documents on these files had been ripped out by “unknown persons”.
In the dossier presented to the PAC, Ryan says the payment “gives some idea of the scale of the monies involved” in the offshore bank accounts.
Significantly, he says he was unable to establish whether the payment was made “for political favours”.
A spokesman for Micheal Martin told the Irish Independent that all material provided to Mr Martin by Mr Ryan was “taken very seriously” and forwarded to the appropriate investigative bodies.
Irish Independent
