Court recess delays action by Revenue

The High Court application from the Revenue Commissioners for access to details of the Ansbacher deposits will not begin until autumn.

The courts rose yesterday and apart from special summer sittings will not sit again until October 4th. Any application for access to the secretive deposits is likely to take place in camera but it is understood the matter has not yet been mentioned before the courts.

At the presentation of the Revenue Commissioners' annual report on July 20th, the chairman, Mr Dermot Quigley, said a case would be taken in the High Court and indicated it was likely to be mentioned later that week.

But it is understood no such case has been initiated. The Revenue plans to use new powers which allow it access to bank accounts it suspects contain money which was not declared. To gain such access the Revenue would need to convince the High Court to grant it the necessary order. Previously, the Revenue could apply to the courts for access only to accounts of a named individual.

"We will be making all the arguments in support of Revenue getting access to this information," Mr Quigley said. If access is allowed, the accounts will then be scrutinised to establish undisclosed deposits held by Irish residents.

Under Section 908 of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997, amended by this year's Finance Act, cases involving Revenue applications for access to bank accounts are heard in private. Depositors' names would not be disclosed publicly, though the names of any individuals who then had to make settlements would appear in Iris Oifigiuil.

The Comptroller and Auditor General's report on DIRT and bogus non-resident accounts, published on the same day as the Revenue's annual report, contained details of legal opinion received by Guinness & Mahon bank concerning the Ansbacher deposits. The legal opinion suggested the money lodged in the deposits was not beneficially owned by the Irish persons linked to the deposits, in the way a normal deposit would be.