A Mayo farmer prosecuted in Ballinrobe District Court on seven summonses for tax-related offences, including tax evasion, has had his case referred to the Circuit Court after the presiding judge refused jurisdiction in the case.
In the case taken by the Revenue Commisioners against Mr Frank Morahan, Coolistuff, Kilmaine, Co Mayo, Judge Terence Finn, after hearing evidence from a senior Revenue inspector, ruled that he was not satisfied he could deal with the case.
Mr Morahan was described as having accumulated and amassed assets in a systematic way by acquiring land, building up livestock and making false declarations of income.
References were made to various financial institutions and products during the hearing, including products from Bank of Ireland, ACC Bank, National Irish Bank and one of its products, Clerical Medical Insurance (CMI) bonds.
In 1999, the Revenue received notification from Mr Morahan's representatives advising them of the existence of 26 previously undisclosed bank accounts.
Some of these were referred to as bogus non-resident accounts. The person named in most of the accounts was actually dead.
Mr Seamus Hughes, Mayo State Solicitor, outlined the background of the case.
He said the case was being taken by the DPP at the behest of the Revenue. There were seven summonses in which it was alleged the defendant did knowingly or wilfully make incorrect income returns to the Revenue between the 10-year period of 1987/1988 to 1997/1998.
Mr Liam Liston, senior inspector in the Revenue's prosecution division, told the court that Mr Morahan was a farmer. He and his wife, Brid, lived at Coolistuff, Kilmaine, Co Mayo and owned 330 acres, he said.
"On the 31st December, 1981 he had £56,000 in a bank account in a joint deposit account. This was a vast amount 21 years ago," Mr Liston said.
"On April 2nd, 1998, which relates to the current investigation, a letter was sent to Mr Morahan from the tax service about his tax affairs not being in order.
"This was concerning an event on the 1st December, 1995, whereby he withdrew £227,569 from an account in the name of Mr Grimes, and this was invested, £151,000 of it, in a CMI product," Mr Liston explained.
He said on March 19th, 1999 that representatives of Mr Morahan made a submission to the Revenue on their client's behalf, in relation to 26 previously undisclosed bank accounts.
Mr Liston said from a schedule of lands acquired by Mr Morahan and the details of the bank accounts, his assets totalled £810,000 at cost, which would be worth £3 million today.
