The Republic has emerged as a hub for shell companies set up to facilitate large cross-border tax fraud schemes and money laundering, a top official in the European Public Prosecutor\u2019s Office (EPPO) has warned. <\/p>\n
The Republic\u2019s advantageous corporate tax regime has meant the State has become a destination of choice for criminal networks to incorporate \u201cbogus\u201d financial entities to wash dirty money and defraud European tax authorities in the process, according to the EU body\u2019s deputy chief prosecutor. <\/p>\n
The Republic is one of three EU states not members of EPPO, a body in operation since 2021 that investigates complex financial crimes, such as VAT fraud schemes spanning several European jurisdictions. <\/p>\n
EPPO deputy chief prosecutor Andr\u00e9s Ritter said investigators\u2019 ability to fully map out certain criminal operations remained \u201cincomplete\u201d, given that the State was not a member of the EU body. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we can establish is that there\u2019s a lot of shell companies being established in Ireland, which would be participating [in] VAT fraud schemes, but also then when it comes to money laundering,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Ritter said it was common for such \u201ccarousel\u201d schemes to involve products being \u201csold\u201d along a spring of connected shell companies and fronts set up across several countries, to obscure the fact VAT had not been paid, and then fraudulently claim VAT refunds back from tax authorities, before the goods were later sold on the market. <\/p>\n
In an interview with Irish media outlets based in Brussels, Ritter, a German lawyer and prosecutor, said up to a fifth of investigations into these complex fraud schemes uncovered links to organised crime groups. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe money that you gain actually from other criminal activities, it\u2019s a fantastic compliment to use it to permit VAT fraud,\u201d said the European prosecutor. <\/p>\n
The Republic was \u201cattractive\u201d for criminal networks seeking to perpetrate fraud, who could also be taking advantage of the fact the country was not a member of EPPO, he warned.<\/p>\n
Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan previously said the State\u2019s common law system made it more complicated to join the organisation. <\/p>\n
The Government has tasked officials to carry out preparatory work before a decision is made on joining. <\/p>\n
The State had indicated it might be in a position to request to join the EU investigative body next year, said Ritter. <\/p>\n
That would involve the EPPO establishing an office in the Republic. It would likely be staffed by two or three Irish prosecutors, who would have powers to undertake criminal investigations and charge people in the Irish courts, similar to garda\u00ed. <\/p>\n
Department of Justice figures show that the Republic has received more than 50 requests from the EPPO for information and assistance between 2021 and late 2025. <\/p>\n
Ritter said about 15 requests had been made to Irish authorities last year for help. That number would be \u201cmuch higher\u201d if the State were an EPPO member because information sharing across jurisdictions would become much easier, he said. <\/p>\n
EU investigators based in Luxembourg have been processing a high volume of requests for information from other authorities, due to the small country\u2019s sizeable financial services and fund sector. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be a lot of requests of this kind coming from colleagues in other places in Europe to Ireland,\u201d said Ritter. \u201cIreland joining means really that we can have a full picture, which for the time being, can only be incomplete,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Nearly 1,600 requests for information or assistance between different jurisdictions were processed through EPPO channels last year. <\/p>\n
Seizing shipments of drugs or arresting street dealers was only tackling one part of a criminal organisation\u2019s operation, said Ritter. Improving co-operation at European level would help Irish investigators go after the money trail and the men behind it, said the official. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Republic has emerged as a hub for shell companies set up to facilitate large cross-border tax fraud…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5148,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-524604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-european-union","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}