Former Fine Gael minister Michael Lowry has said he has been told he will not be facing charges arising from a substantial tax settlement with the Revenue Commissioners.
A statement on his behalf last night said Mr Lowry was "greatly relieved that the Director of Public Prosecutions has decided that there should be no prosecution in regard to the Revenue file sent to them".
The statement added: "This confirmed the long-held view of Mr Lowry's legal advisers that having made a voluntary disclosure to the Revenue, there is no sustainable case against Garuda Ltd [Mr Lowry's company] or Mr Lowry. The matter is now closed." The statement noted that Mr Lowry had paid the Revenue almost €1.5 million, which included "punitive penalties and interest".
Earlier yesterday, Mr Lowry had said that he had received the news "a number of weeks ago".
It was revealed at the Moriarty tribunal last year that Mr Lowry had paid €1,434,324 in respect of tax, interest and penalties due to the Revenue Commissioners.
The payments were for Mr Lowry's debt to the Revenue, and that of his company, Garuda Ltd, arising out of transactions discovered by the 1997 McCracken (Dunnes Payments) tribunal, as well as the Moriarty tribunal.
At the time, the question of a criminal prosecution against Mr Lowry, who availed of the 1993 tax amnesty, appeared to be a possibility. The terms of the amnesty required a full disclosure to the Revenue.
In an interview broadcast last night on the TV3 programme The Political Party, Mr Lowry said that he had remortgaged his house and sold assets to pay the Revenue.
He said that the media had been "regularly commenting on the fact that I would go to jail, those in competition with me in my constituency have been telling people not to vote for me because . . . I was going to jail".
He added that "for me probably the biggest relief that I have had over the past 10 years was the formal decision from the DPP's office that no charges could be sustained against me".
Mr Lowry said that "dark days" were over. They had been very stressful, very difficult and had consumed a lot of his time and energy, he added.
The Moriarty tribunal is investigating payments made to Mr Lowry, who is now an Independent TD for Tipperary North. It has issued its findings relating to the finances of former taoiseach Charles Haughey.
In his TV3 interview, Mr Lowry said there was no comparison, in his view, between Mr Haughey's position and his own position.
"The first thing has to be said is that any funds that found their way to me were in return for services rendered, so I'm quite confident that the big issue in relation to the Moriarty tribunal is the awarding of the mobile licence . . . and all of the officials from the department who have given evidence to the tribunal have indicated quite clearly and unequivocally that I did not at any stage attempt to influence the outcome of that decision."
He said there was a part of him which felt sorry for Mr Haughey, and, obviously, for his family.
Commenting on his resignation from the Rainbow cabinet in 1996, when details of his business arrangement with Dunnes Stores emerged, Mr Lowry said that the then taoiseach, John Bruton, remained a good friend. When an opportunity arises, they meet "and have a chat and review the current circumstances . . . and sometimes a glance back at the past". He insisted he had not been "in the pocket" of the company's former chief executive, Ben Dunne.
