It is clear that the former Fianna Fáil minister faces serious legal proceedings, writes Paul Cullen
Former Fianna Fáil minister Mr Ray Burke was a member of the Cabinet which introduced the 1993 tax amnesty under the provisions of which he has now been charged.
Mr Burke was a member of the Fianna Fáil/Labour coalition that introduced the measure just four years after Mr Charles Haughey initiated an earlier tax amnesty.
Now the Criminal Assets Bureau has used Mr Burke's declaration under the 1993 amnesty to ratchet up the pressure on the former minister a notch further. Having served him with a €2 million bill for unpaid tax last month, CAB has now seen to it that Mr Burke becomes the latest politician to suffer the humiliation of a court appearance.
The charge brought against him in the District Court brings with it a sliding scale of charges, depending on whether the case is heard by a jury and on what level of under-declaration is involved.
Section 9 of the Waiver of Certain Tax and Interest Penalties Act, 1993, provides for the imposition of small fines in the case of minor infractions. For larger sums, the section provides for a €1,524 fine and/or 12 months in jail on summary conviction. But if the case is dealt with on indictment, the penalties increase considerably. At the top of the scale, when the amount of under-declaration exceeds €127,000, a person could face a fine of up to twice this amount and/or up to eight years in jail.
This level of sanction is rarely if ever imposed, but it is clear that Mr Burke is facing serious legal proceedings.
Last year's interim report of the Flood tribunal found that Mr Burke was involved in seven corrupt transactions involving the receipt by him of hundreds of thousands of euro - and millions if you include the corrupt acquisition of his house in Swords in the 1970s.
The actual amounts cited were £50,000 from builder Tom Brennan in 1982; £35,000 from Mr Brennan and his associates in 1984; £60,000 from Mr Brennan, his business partner Joe McGowan and auctioneer John Finnegan in the same year; £15,000 from Mr Brennan and Mr McGowan in 1985; £35,000 from Century Radio co-founder Mr Oliver Barry in 1989; and £30,000 from Joseph Murphy Structural Engineering in the same year.
CAB cannot rely on the tribunal report or its hearings to bring a prosecution, but its work provides an obvious roadmap for the direction its investigations might take.
Bureau detectives have clearly already noted Mr Burke's answers to the tribunal when questioned about his use of the tax amnesty. Questioned in March 2001, he was unable to give a detailed explanation as to why he provided a figure of £5,085 for undeclared income in the amnesty.
He told lawyers this figure was a "guesstimate" based on deposit interest earned.
But as the lawyers pointed out at the time, interest earned on political donations is not subject to tax, so why would Mr Burke feel the need to avail of the amnesty? Mr Burke then referred to money from shares and a bequest from his father and said he came to the view that a certain amount of the interest that had been accruing would have been "personal" interest as opposed to political expenses.
The fact is that the money all went into the same pot, and much of it went offshore to accounts not revealed to the tribunal until the lawyers discovered them themselves.
Certainly, little enough made its way to Fianna Fáil, in spite of Mr Burke's contention that it was raised for the candidate and the party.
The former Minister, who applied for legal aid in court yesterday, sold a house three years ago for almost €4 million.