Green Party welcomes Ansbacher settlement
The Green Party has welcomed the news that the owners of the Ansbacher Bank, which was at the centre of a tax evasion scam in Ireland, have reached a €7.5m settlement with the Revenue Commissioners.
The settlement follows a High Court investigation that found an Ansbacher subsidiary in the Cayman Islands had helped facilitate massive tax evasion by wealthy Irish businessmen and politicians.
Despite welcoming the €7.5m payout today, Green Party spokesman Dan Boyle said it did not change the fact that the Irish authorities have failed to take prosecutions against any of the people involved in the scam.
"The report from the High Court was put in 18 months ago to the Dáil and, while we're seeing money being collected by the revenue commissioners, we have yet to see people being prosecuted for tax evasion or for not co-operating with that High Court investigation," Mr Boyle said.
"Until we see that kind of action, the public are still going to be a bit cold towards the idea that tax evasion is really being properly tackled."
