A company director who defrauded the Revenue Commissioners of £34,118 (€43,321) by submitting incorrect VAT returns was yesterday sentenced to two years' imprisonment at Limerick Circuit Court.
It is believed to be the first instance of someone being sent to prison for a tax offence, though there has been at least one suspended sentence handed down in recent years.
The court was told that Patrick O'Doherty, a director of Babel International Language Services Organisation, Turret Street, Ballingarry, Co Limerick, graduated from Maynooth College with a BA degree in German and English and also received a post-graduate diploma in business studies from the University of Limerick. The defendant pleaded guilty to eight charges, including incorrect VAT returns and obtaining money by false pretences between 1995 and 1996. The amount involved was £34,118.
The accused was also charged with attempting to obtain by false pretences a further £32,760.
Mr Liam Liston, senior inspector of taxes at the Revenue Commissioners' investigative branch, said Babel registered for VAT in June 1995. He found the defendant got VAT repayments totalling £34,118 in three separate cheques in the period from May 1995 to October 1996. The cheques were cashed.
Mr Liston said he found the claims were incorrect and invoices were false. Sometimes the defendant personally delivered the VAT claims to the tax office.
Mr Liston, accompanied by a colleague and two gardai, visited the accused's company premises at his home on May 7th, 1997. He found copies of false invoices and tax-free returns made out to the Revenue Commissioners. The accused co-operated fully in the inquiry and Mr Liston said there was no evidence that any business was being carried out by the company.
Garda Martin Farragher, of Ballingarry, said he had known the accused for 20 years. "The accused made a big contribution to the local community council," he said. Garda Farragher said the accused had one previous conviction, in 1992. Mr Leonard Parker, defending, said this would have been a very difficult and long case had the accused not pleaded guilty. He asked that credit should be given to the accused. Mr Parker added that the defendant was 42 years of age, was single, lived with his ill mother and had no money.
Judge Sean O'Leary, imposing sentence, said the accused had obviously served his community well and was highly regarded. "This was an attempt to manufacture a situation where the Revenue Commissioners were defrauded of a substantial amount of money and the Revenue Commissioners are to be congratulated on their diligence," he said.
