Thomas Murphy pleads not guilty to tax evasion charges

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

Thomas Murphy has pleaded not guilty to nine charges alleging tax evasion. His trial is being heard at the Special Criminal Court. The proceedings were reported on 1 December 2015.

The charges allege that he failed to furnish returns of his income, profits or gains, or their sources, to the Collector General or the Inspector of Taxes for the years 1996/97 to 2004. The prosecution's case is that he conducted significant cattle and land dealings and received farming grants from the Department of Agriculture but made no returns to Revenue. His lawyers claim that his brother managed his cattle herd and farming activities.

Handwriting expert Stephen Cosslett told Tony McGillicuddy BL, defending, that there was “strong evidence” Thomas Murphy did not sign a number of documents bearing his name.

He also told the court there was “conclusive evidence” that three documents, dating from 2007 to 2014, were all signed by the author of another set of documents: tax forms in the name of Patrick Murphy, the accused man's brother.

The prosecution followed an investigation by the Criminal Assets Bureau.