Irish - Manx tax deal - a touch of irony

There was more than a touch or irony last week as the Manx government trumpeted a new deal with Ireland on closer economic and taxation co-operation.

Within days the former assistant Dublin city and county manager, George Redmond, went on trial at the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court charged with two counts of corruption.

The charges were unrelated to the Isle of Man - Mr Redmond is charged with receiving a corrupt payment of £10,000 between October 1985 and June 1989 from a former Fianna Fáil councillor. However the seeds of Mr Redmonds fall from grace were sown in 1999 when he was stopped getting off a Dublin flight from the Isle of Man with over £300,000 in cash.

Redmond was investigated by The Flood Tribunal, subsequently known as The Mahon Tribunal and this revealed that he was lodging sums of money equivalent to multiples of his legitimate income in secret off-shore bank accounts. He had cash deposits in the Isle of Man of £350,000 and £194,000 the Tribunal established.

Redmond was not alone in his use of Isle of Man banking secrecy laws in the 1980 - 90s. Many Irish citizens used the Isle of Man to conceal illicit payments or to evade tax.

In some instances more disreputable criminal and terrorist links by others to the Manx banking system were also alleged.

The Manx government and financial services sector make a great play these days about the transparency of our banking system. However for decades they ignored the concerns articulated by nationalists about the Islands deficient banking regulations

The whole period remains shrouded in secrecy. The Isle of Man will never truly throw of the image of its disreputable past until there is a public admission that in this period we stole the tax receipts of other countries and we helped launder the proceeds of crime. After all you can hardly clean up your act if you do not have the humility to admit your past mistakes !

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J B Moffatt Director of Information Celtic League

30/04/08