A brother of the convicted criminal George 'The Penguin' Mitchell has been jailed for two years and fined €35,000 for failing to make tax returns worth over €1 million.
Patrick Mitchell (56), of Benbulbin Road, Drimnagh, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three counts of failing to make the required tax returns.
Judge Michael White noted Mitchell had acquired 13 properties in various areas of Dublin from 1980 onwards under fictitious names and under names of his associates. He rented these out to various tenants but failed to make tax returns for the years 2000, 2001 and 2002.
Judge White said Mitchell had set out to deliberately defraud the State of substantial revenue. He imposed concurrent sentences of two years on each of the three counts and fined him €5,000 on the first count, €10,000 on the second and €20,000 on the third.
He gave Mitchell one year to pay each fine and said he would have to serve an additional three months in prison each for failing to pay the first two fines and an additional six months if he failed to say the last fine of €20,000.
A Revenue Commissioner Officer and Criminal Assets Officer, referred to in court as 'Officer No.5', said Mitchell signed an agreement this week with CAB agreeing to pay off his tax liabilities through selling six out of the 10 properties that were the focus of the investigation.
Detective Inspector Shane Fennessey told Judge White that CAB had been running a covert investigation of Mitchell's financial affairs for about six years, starting from 1997, until they eventually confronted him in September 2002 with evidence of his tax liabilities.
Mitchell, who had been a handyman, a used car-sales man and a scrap dealer for most of his working life, had bought several properties in various areas of Dublin including Palmerstown, Realto, Ballyfermot and Crumlin which he then rented out.
He bought his first property in 1980 with what he claimed was money he had saved while working in England.