Disclosure of Certain Information For Taxation and Other Purposes Act, 1996

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Furnishing of certain information by Revenue Commissioners, etc.

1.—The Criminal Justice Act, 1994 , is hereby amended by the insertion of the following section after section 63 :

“63A.—(1) In this section—

‘relevant investigation’ means an investigation of a kind referred to in subsection (1) of section 63 of this Act;

‘relevant person’ means—

(a) a member of the Garda Síochána not below the rank of Chief Superintendent, or

(b) the head of any body, or any member of that body nominated by the head of the body, being a body established by or under statute or by the Government, the purpose or one of the principal purposes of which is—

(i) the identification of the assets of persons which derive or are suspected to derive, directly or indirectly, from criminal activity,

(ii) the taking of appropriate action under the law to deprive or to deny those persons of the assets or the benefit of such assets, in whole or in part, as may be appropriate, and

(iii) the pursuit of any investigation or the doing of any other preparatory work in relation to any proceedings arising from the objectives mentioned in subparagraphs (i) and (ii).

(2) If, having regard to information obtained from a relevant person or otherwise, the Revenue Commissioners have reasonable grounds—

(a) for suspecting that a person may have derived profits or gains from an unlawful source or activity, and

(b) for forming the opinion that—

(i) information in their possession is likely to be of value to a relevant investigation which may be, or may have been, initiated, and

(ii) it is in the public interest that the information should be produced or that access to it should be given,

then, the Revenue Commissioners shall, subject to subsection (4) of this section and notwithstanding any obligation as to secrecy or other restriction upon disclosure of information imposed by or under any statute or otherwise, produce, or provide access to, such information to a relevant person.

(3) (a) The Revenue Commissioners may authorise any officer of the Revenue Commissioners serving in a grade not lower than that of Principal Officer or its equivalent to perform any acts and discharge any functions authorised by this section to be performed or discharged by the Revenue Commissioners and references in this section, other than in this subsection, to the Revenue Commissioners shall, with any necessary modifications, be construed as including references to an officer so authorised.

(b) The Revenue Commissioners may by notice in writing revoke an authorisation given by them under this section, without prejudice to the validity of anything previously done thereunder.

(c) In any proceedings arising out of a relevant investigation, a certificate signed by a Revenue Commissioner or an officer authorised under paragraph (a) of this subsection, as the case may be, certifying that information specified in the certificate has been produced to or access to such information has been provided to a relevant person shall, unless the contrary is proved, be evidence without further proof of the matters stated therein or of the signature thereon.

(4) Where information has been supplied to the Revenue Commissioners by or on behalf of the government of another state in accordance with an undertaking (express or implied) on the part of the Revenue Commissioners that the material will be used only for a particular purpose or purposes, no action under this section shall have the effect of requiring or permitting the production of, or the provision of access to, the information for a purpose other than one permitted in accordance with the undertaking and the information shall not, without the consent of the other state, be further disclosed or used otherwise than in accordance with the undertaking.”.