Customers at National Irish Bank have paid £11 million to the Revenue Commissioners following investigations into their "offshore" investments.

This week the Revenue hopes to lodge an application before the courts for permission to examine the Ansbacher bank accounts of Irish residents disclosed in the McCracken tribunal report.

The Revenue chairman, Mr Dermot Quigley, said some 422 cases of offshore investments made by NIB customers have come up for investigation. Some 121 cases have been settled involving payments of £5 million, almost half of which comprised interest and penalties. The cases involved investments made by NIB customers in the Clerical Medical Insurance Fund based in the Isle of Man. At this stage about 11 cases have been selected for further investigation with a view to possible prosecution.

"Indications are that a significant amount of the funds invested was from sources not previously disclosed for tax purposes. Consequently, Revenue expect that there will be significant additional tax, interest and penalties levied in these cases and that publication of names will apply in some of the cases in accordance with tax law," according to the Revenue Commissioners annual report of 1998.

By the end of last year, about £1.14 million in unpaid tax, penalties and interest had been collected, but as the inquiry gathered pace, another £4 million in settlement of tax, penalties and interest has been paid.

In addition, NIB customers have paid £6 million "on account" - as Mr Quigley explained "to stop the clock on expected interest charges" on their eventual tax bills. The Revenue has accepted these payments "without prejudice", he added.

About 11 of the 422 cases are under further investigation with a view to prosecution. Mr Quigley said that in terms of prosecution, the Revenue must look for the most serious cases and those which will yield the evidence required for successful prosecution.

This week the Revenue expects to apply to the High Court for permission to examine Ansbacher deposits held by Irish residents. Until new powers were conferred on the Revenue in the last Finance Act, it needed to know an account-holder's name before it could examine a bank account. Under its new powers, the Revenue can apply to the courts for permission to examine accounts where tax-evasion is suspected even where the account holder's identity is not known.

"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, he said.

On its investigation into the operation of non-resident accounts by Irish financial institutions, Mr Quigley said that by the end of 1998, a sample of or, in some cases, all the declarations of non-residence required when non-resident accounts were opened, had been examined in the case of 21 financial institutions. To date the declarations of 33 institutions have been examined, he said.

The Revenue's examination programme had been extended following the new powers granted under the 1999 Finance Act, he said.

Asked about dismissal by the Appeals Commissioner of the Revenue's £2 million tax assessment on Mr Charles Haughey, Mr Quigley accepted that it had been a factor "in diluting public confidence" in the Revenue.

This is now the subject of a Revenue appeal and it is seeking a date in the next law term for a complete rehearing in the Circuit Court. "The Revenue team has been working very hard on this case," he added.

The Revenue will assess new evidence on Mr Haughey's financial arrangements which has emerged from the Moriarty tribunal. The Revenue has made a submission to that tribunal and expects to be called to give evidence, he said.