Opposition calls for Ansbacher prosecutions

The Opposition parties united today in their call for criminal prosecutions to follow investigations of alleged tax evasion indicated within the Ansbacher Report.

They were also critical of the non-attendance by the Taoiseach and many of his cabinet at today’s Dáil debate on the report.

The Fine Gael spokesman on finance, Mr Richard Bruton reminded the Dáil that "tax evasion is not a victimless crime". The Ansbacher Report "reveals a criminal conspiracy to defraud the compliant taxpayer".

Mr Bruton suggested that it was not enough to entrust the governance of corporate arms of within the State to the Central Bank and the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement and walk out of the Dáil this evening. To do this would be "to fail to heed the wake-up call," said Mr Bruton.

He recommended that the report be investigated by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC).

The Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, expanded on the effects caused by tax evasion. "The Ansbacher scheme and no doubt others like it cost lives. The health service has yet to recover from the savage cuts brought to bear upon it in 1987 and 1989."

A desire to settle rather than convict remains paramount within the system, said Mr Quinn. This removed the fear of prosecution, he said.

A policy decision was required by the Taoiseach to prosecute rather than settle.

"We need a decision from Government that no settlement be made with those who didn’t avail of the 1993 amnesty and that if this decision costs the State money, it is worth it as a matter of principle, and in fairness to those compliant taxpayers who did without in the 1980s."

Mr Quinn also said the "anomalies" around residency and tax exiles need to be resolved. "Isn’t it time that people who claim that benefits of Irish citizenship paid for that privilege?"

Labour’s Mr Pat Rabbitt said in the new global environment, wealthy citizens can perfectly legally avoid paying their fair share of the costs of running this State by acquiring tax exile status.

"The present Taoiseach as Minister for Finance piloted amendments to the Finance Bill that facilitated residence in this State for long periods while not being liable for tax in this jurisdiction."

Despite improvements in regulation since the early 1990's Labour’s Mr Tommy Broughan said "nobody can be confident that there are not other Ansbacher-type scams still operating with Irish connections to facilitate tax evasion by rich and powerful people."

His party colleague, Mr Brendan Howlin said today’s debate was the beginning rather than the end of the work required following the publication of the report.

Fine Gael's Mr Phil Hogan said initial defeatist attitude of both the Tánaiste and the Minister for Justice on the possibility of securing convictions was highly depressing.

He said prosecution should follow for all those found to have "deliberately sought to avoid or evade their taxes".

"I hope that the gardaí will call to these peoples’ homes or places of work and arrest them, bring them in for questioning and if appropriate, charge them.

"We should expect the same type of treatment for those individuals as the small businessmen of 1970s and 1980s, faced with demands for VAT, on the due date and the prospects of visits from the VAT inspectors and sheriffs."

Mr Hogan added that the "the inclusion of Mr Charles Haughey as an Ansbacher depositor is perhaps, the single most alarming finding of the Report."

"A man who held the office of Taoiseach, who lectured us all on financial probity and restraint and who presented himself as a man of the people, in fact had a Walter Mitty existence," he said.

The Green Party told the Dáil prosecution must follow for companies who breached banking regulations and for individuals who held the off-shore accounts and failed to avail of the tax amnesties or made incorrect submissions.

Mr Eamon Ryan also said the Greens wanted to see investigation of off-shore funds held by the other financial institutions extended.

The terms of reference of the Moriarty tribunal should be broadened to include the dealings of Cement Roadstone Holdings, Mr Ryan added.

The involvement of Cement Roadstone Holdings was criticised by many of the Opposition parties, with Sinn Féin saying the company’s role should be fully investigated.

"CRH must be held accountable for their role in this affair and for their wider role. For years they have operated as a virtual monopoly in the cement and concrete business in this State, squeezing out by dubious methods those smaller companies they could not buy out," said Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh.

The leader of the Socialist Party, Mr Joe Higgins joined in the chorus asking for an investigation into the role of CRH in the Ansbacher accounts.

He also called on the Tánaiste, to outlaw discretionary trusts. "Why do we still allow in law people to camouflage their wealth, camouflage their assets, to these secretive trusts?"