A REVENUE officer fabricated evidence in a bid to secure a criminal conviction, an Irish Mail on Sunday investigation reveals.
In evidence prepared for court, the officer swore she had personally witnessed a Northern-registered jeep that had not been registered for Vehicle Registration Tax (VRT). But on some of the dates she claimed to have spotted the €80,000 vehicle driving in the Republic, the Revenue official was actually out of the country on a boozy trip to Benidorm.
Contacted by the MoS this week, the officer said she could not comment on the case as it is the subject of an ongoing investigation.
Revenue also confirmed that there is an ‘ongoing’ investigation into the matter.
Revenue’s entire case – which came before the courts in January – was built on the officer’s sworn testimony that she saw the UK-registered BMW X5 jeep south of the border on 12 occasions between June and October 2023.
The date of each purported sighting is listed in a sworn statement the officer signed as evidence for a criminal prosecution.
However, as social media images show, the officer was actually abroad on holiday on several of these dates. Three of the dates in question are consecutive days between September 22 and 24.
During this time the officer was actually on holidays in Spain. The raucous trip was chronicled on social media by an influencer who publicly posted a compilation video of the Revenue officer and her travelling companions.
Others on the trip also posted pictures in which the Revenue official was tagged. In one post showing the group leaving Ireland on a Ryanair flight on September 21, the Revenue officer is clearly identifiable in a bright summer dress.
The next day, she is photographed in a sun hat with a female companion on a scooter on Benidorm’s Playa De Levante beachfront.
‘Benidorm’s answer to Thelma & Louise,’ the photo caption reads.
But according to her falsified sworn statement, the Revenue official said she was in Ireland on the same day.
The following day, September 23, she is photographed in a black swim top and dark sunglasses partying at Benidorm’s Tiki Beach bar, a venue famed for its cocktails and live music.
This is also one of the dates that were listed in the official’s sworn statement in which she claimed to be at work in Ireland.
Images and videos from the same day show the official dancing under palm trees in the sunshine amid alcohol-strewn tables.
One image shows her pouring a large bottle of what appears to be clear spirits directly into the mouth of a man whose head she is tilting back with her other hand.
Another image from September 23 that she tagged herself in shows her posing with a man dressed as a goose with a pink top emblazoned with the words: ‘BEER LEADER.’
The following day – again when the official claimed to be in Ireland – the group are photographed dancing in the evening at a club.
One member of the group posted alongside the nightclub images: ‘What a place. Best holiday I’ve been on EVER.’
They then go on to joke about checking into a named residential treatment facility for addiction back in Ireland.
Further images from the trip show the group leaping into a rooftop pool and splashing in the sea.
On another date the officer purported to be in Ireland – July 18, 2023 – she posted images of her on a family trip abroad to Legoland.
Confronted at her home this week, the Revenue officer refused to comment.
‘I’m not allowed talk about this at the minute. It’s part of a Revenue investigation. I’m not allowed speak about this to anybody,’ she told the MoS.
When offered an opportunity to explain her actions, the official said: ‘I can’t talk about this at the minute, so I can’t. There’s a lot more here going on in this than you’ve been informed of basically. And I can’t talk about it, okay.’
When it was put to her that she had been caught out lying, the official replied: ‘I’m not caught in anything here – there’s a reason behind this. Okay, lookit, I have to talk to Revenue. Thanks very much.’
The officer declined to specify whether or not she is still employed by Revenue.
Details of the case are chronicled in correspondence – seen by the MoS – between the vehicle owner and Revenue. This includes the seizure notice provided after Revenue officers, attended by three gardaí, seized the vehicle in November of last year.
Tax laws empower Revenue officers to make such seizures if they form a ‘reasonable suspicion’ that an unregistered vehicle has been in the State for more than 30 days.
The significant power of seizure afforded to Revenue officers based on reasonable suspicion grounds alone has proven controversial in other cases.
But in this case, some of the evidence to back up that ‘reasonable suspicion’ was made up.
Providing false evidence is itself a potential criminal offence.
And under the Criminal Justice (Perjury and Related Offences) Act 2021, this can also apply to the signing and swearing of any false documents.
The Revenue official’s falsified statement could also be a breach of misfeasance of public office laws designed to ensure State officials do not abuse their position.
In her signed statement, dated March 6, 2024, the Revenue officer stated: ‘I am an Officer of Customs and Excise and Authorised Officer of the Revenue Commissioners.’
She also stated she had been ‘acting in that capacity on all dates mentioned in this statement’.
The legal document contained a standard clause in which the officer acknowledged that making a false statement is a potential crime.
‘This statement is true to the best of my knowledge and belief and I make it knowing that, if it is tendered in evidence, I shall be liable to prosecution if I have wilfully stated in it anything which I know to be false or do not believe to be true,’ it states.
Revenue’s prosecution of the BMW owner was based on this false evidence and was provided to the defence in advance of the court hearing.
However, the court never got a chance to hear this evidence. At the beginning of the hearing, a defence barrister raised an objection about a legal point relating to the Revenue’s failure to provide other documents in discovery. As a result, the judge struck out the case.
After that, the vehicle owner and her legal team subsequently complained to Revenue and provided evidence of the falsified official’s statement.
Despite the actions of its official, Revenue has refused to apologise to or compensate the car owner.
The tax collecting agency initially asked the owner to sign a document that would have indemnified all Revenue and State officials – up to and including the Minister for Finance – before the BMW would be returned.
However, the owner refused to sign the indemnity. The car was eventually returned to the owner – 17 months after it was seized.
According to the owner, the entire episode cost more than €7,000 in legal and other fees, money Revenue has refused to consider compensating.
In correspondence with the car owner, Revenue refused to accept that the attempted prosecution was ‘malicious’.
It also continues to insist its seizure of the BMW was ‘lawful.’
The owner continues to seek compensation and an apology from Revenue.
In a letter to Revenue chairman Niall Cody in April, the vehicle owner stated: ‘My concern now is this has never ever been taken seriously. Is this normal practice for your officers and department?
‘I was dragged through the courts completely unnecessarily. Left with a bill of €7,000 in legal fees. And yet I have never even received an apology from anyone for any of this,’ the owner followed up in June.
‘This officer was willing to commit perjury but for my barrister realising that evidence had been left out, is this alone not a matter of concern?’ The vehicle owner had previously been caught and fined by Revenue for driving a different unregistered vehicle, something they freely admit to and regret.
And they said that, having learned their lessons, they had sought to register the BMW as soon as it was purchased.
‘Last time I was wrong,’ they told the MoS. ‘But this time I was bending over backwards to try to get the car registered.’
In response to queries, a Revenue spokeswoman said: ‘This matter is subject to ongoing enquiries/investigations and Revenue is not in a position to comment on this matter at this point.
