Court report: The former government minister Ray Burke has been jailed for six months for failing to make tax returns on over £100,000 over a 10-year period between 1982 and 1991.
Judge Desmond Hogan at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court noted that Burke as a member of the Oireachtas had been a participant in formulating the 1983 Finance Act under the provisions of which he was prosecuted. He had been in a position of trust and had abused that position.
Judge Hogan said in deciding that Burke should be sent to jail he was also taking into consideration the positions he had previously held, even though he had not been a government minister at the time he committed the offences.
Burke had been a legislator at the Oireachtas which takes very seriously matters of the Revenue Commissioners as evidenced by the powers bestowed upon that authority. He said Burke "had taken part in this legislative process that affected the lives of everybody in the country" and by commission of these offences he "abused this special position".
Judge Hogan also said that Burke had actively committed the offences rather than it being a mere omission on his part. He had even premeditated them by submitting a false statement of income to the Revenue Commissioners, an act which was designed to deliberately minimise his tax returns.
"Under the circumstances a custodial sentence is appropriate." However, he noted, considering the penalties that Burke had since paid, his current tax compliant position, and the settlements he has since made with the Revenue Commissioner, "the sentence should not be a long one". He said in deciding the length of the sentence he was also taking into consideration Burke's age, and his current ill-health in the form of depression and anxiety.
Burke (60), of Griffith Downs, Drumcondra, Dublin, pleaded guilty in July to knowingly or wilfully furnishing incorrect information during the government's tax amnesty of 1993 by failing to declare an income of £91,980.
He also pleaded guilty to knowingly or wilfully furnishing incorrect information to the Inspector of Taxes on or after December 15th, 1993, by failing to declare income of £24,038, bringing the total of undeclared income to £116,038.
Burke's counsel, Mr Patrick Hunt, had appealed to Judge Hogan on December 14th at the initial sentence hearing not to jail Burke and not to treat him any differently "because of who he is".
He also told Judge Hogan that Burke had suffered a fall from grace as a result of the high position he had held, but that was no reason to make him a scapegoat.
He noted that Burke is now fully tax compliant, having made a settlement of £470,178 with the Revenue Commissioners in April 2000. He made a prompted voluntary payment of £155,140 for 1997-1998 and €400,000 after further negotiations.
Insp Denis O'Leary told Mr Patrick Gageby (with Mr Ben Ó Floinn), prosecuting, that a large investigation was launched into Burke's tax affairs in October 2000. A search of his present home revealed a folder which contained information showing that he had failed to fully declare his income for over nine years.
A folder marked "Building Societies" in his home contained a declaration he had submitted to the Chief Special Collector at the Revenue Commissioners making incorrect statements in relation to his taxes.
Insp O'Leary said in the declaration Burke stated his income from interest-bearing deposit accounts as £5,085. Burke stated in the form that the amount of £5,085 was a full and true statement of income for the period between 1982-1983 to April 5th, 1991.
An officer from the Revenue Commissioners and the Criminal Investigations Bureau said Burke had actually earned a total of £97,065 from interest-bearing deposit accounts in that period.
The income was generated partly from accounts he held at the AIB in the Isle of Man and from a Jersey-based company, Caviar Ltd, of which he was a beneficial owner. The amount he had earned from the two accounts amounted to £71,002 (£62,790 stg). Within the same period, he also earned an additional £26,063 from his Irish interests, bringing the total income to £97,065. Of this amount, he had only declared £5,085 which was generated from an account held at Irish Nationwide Building Society on Camden Street.
Under the Amnesty Act, Burke had to pay £762.75 which was 15 per cent of the declared £5,085. When the declared amount was deducted, it became clear that Burke had grossly underestimated his earnings by £91,980, the officer told the court.
Mr Gageby said Burke sent a letter on December 15th, 1993, to the Inspector of Taxes, which once again underestimated his income for 1991-1992 and 1992-1993 by £24,038.
The Revenue officer said Burke had failed to declare £13,821 he earned in combined Irish and British interest in 1991-1992 and also failed to declare £10,217 he earned in similarly combined interests between 1992 and 1993, bringing the total undeclared income to £24,038 for which he was being prosecuted.