Gerard Mounsey wins appeal against tax-return convictions

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Court of Appeal allowed Gerard Mounsey’s appeal against his convictions for knowingly or wilfully submitting incorrect income tax returns on 19 October 2015. Mr Justice Birmingham delivered the judgment.

His trial opened on 16 July 2013. The jury reached unanimous guilty verdicts on 27 July 2013 on seven charges, numbered two to eight. These concerned incorrect returns submitted to the Office of the Collector General for assessment years 2003 to 2009. Count one ended in a directed acquittal.

The Circuit Court sentenced him on 13 January 2014. Counts two, three and four each attracted a six-month prison term; these were consecutive and fully suspended. For counts five and six, the court imposed a €5,000 fine on each. Payment was required within twelve months, with one month’s imprisonment provided for non-payment.

The appeal court identified errors in several decisions about trial evidence. It ruled that his detention had become unlawful by the fourth interview, making that interview inadmissible. Before it took place, he had undergone three interviews and the basis for his detention had changed.

The Director of Public Prosecutions also challenged the sentences as unduly lenient. Both applications were listed for 23 July 2015, but the hearing addressed only the conviction appeal. The court left consideration of the sentence review until afterwards, should that remain necessary. This judgment did not decide it.

The DPP had sought a delay over concerns that sentencing might be influenced by the defence suggestion that tax-assessment appeals could establish that no tax was owed. Those appeals remained unresolved. Revenue’s position was that a substantial liability existed.