Revenue official jailed for role in vehicle tax scam

Atlantic Dawn

Gets 1 year for defrauding the state of €340,000...

A SENIOR Revenue official has been sentenced to three years for his role in a vehicle registration tax scam that defrauded over €340,000 from the State.

Gerard Blaney (56) of McKee Avenue, Finglas, in Dublin had been working for the Revenue since 1973 and working for the VRT office since June 2003, where he was responsible for running the office and training staff.

He was in charge of ensuring the details filled out on a tax form, VRT 3, matched the make, model, specification and manufacturer’s statistical codes of the vehicle in question.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0317/1224292405666.html

Jarren

He estimated the scam resulted in a total loss to revenue of €341,206. Blaney received between €1,000 and €1,500.

daRobot

jarecki1976 wrote: »

Blaney received between €1,000 and €1,500

Yeah, sure he did.

-Corkie-

I think this is outrageous it is no wonder our country is so fcuked up. Actually their was a thread here last week where someone was phoned up by the revenue officer a year after being caught and he was demanding cash..:rolleyes:

I hardly believed the story but this really shows them up.

Voodoomelon

Thats not gonna be a pleasant year in prison for a revenue official.

cadaliac

I'd love to know how he was caught. Word of mouth I would imagine.
The fact that there was only 8 counts of the crime is also suspicious to me.

-Chris-

8 counts that could be documented well enough for conviction.

Iwannahurl

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Thats not gonna be a pleasant year in prison for a revenue official.

Because prisoners don't think prisons represent a good use of tax revenue?

n97 mini

Hmm. He was suspended, possibly on full pay, the article doesn't say.

He then retired, receiving a lump sum of up to 18 months salary *tax free* and is now in receipt of a civil service pension.

I think some would say he got away very lightly.

Antiquo

No big surprise here sure this kind of thing is rampant wherever you go in Irish business. Anywhere legislation compliance costs money there are truck loads o these guys out there. Taking a few bob to look the other way or rubber stamp a document.

Granted mostly keeping to their trusted cronies now but it is rife and has always been the case.

It's the way business is done in Ireland and anyone says its not is going around with their eyes closed.

If he was a politician he would be called a cute whore and get a pat on the back or in recent times walk away with a golden handshake and mahoosive pension for life.

Iwannahurl

Antiquo wrote: »

No big surprise here sure this kind of thing is rampant wherever you go in Irish business. Anywhere legislation compliance costs money there are truck loads o these guys out there. Taking a few bob to look the other way or rubber stamp a document.

Granted mostly keeping to their trusted cronies now but it is rife and has always been the case.

It's the way business is done in Ireland and anyone says its not is going around with their eyes closed.

If he was a politician he would be called a cute whore and get a pat on the back or in recent times walk away with a golden handshake and mahoosive pension for life.

No, no, no, no, no, we can't have that.

These people are not whores.

They're hoors.

kildare.17hmr

I feel sorry for the guy, i know he broke the law but i think a bigger fine, say 5 grand, and a full suspended sentence would have done the job

kildare.17hmr

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

I feel sorry for the guy, i know he broke the law but i think a bigger fine, say 5 grand, and a full suspended sentence would have done the job

That's more or less getting off with it then, a €5000 fine wouldn't inconvenience him hugely and a suspended sentance wouldn't either if he intended to behave himself, a lad of his age wouldn't be trying to emmigrate either. He did the crime let him do the time. I'd be surprised if he served the entire sentance anyway.

Too many suspended sentances being lashed out in Ireland.

If each incident cost €4000 to €5000 in lost revenue and they reckon €340,000 was lost in total that's over 70 cars. At €100 a pop that's €7000 minimum. There's probably an element of the office bike there too, more lads have had a go than folks know about.

kildare.17hmr

Sory its hard to hear ya from up on your high horse there:cool:

Fine then give him a 10k fine or more hit him that way but IMO tis harsh. if 1 person here who is in the car game or any1 who has ever imported a car says they would not be delighted if they got away with extras there a bleedin liar, its happened to every1 who registers cars so should we all go join this lad in jail??

cant imagine too many people turning around to the revenue official and saying oh sorry you forgot to put down my big alloys and leather seats, dont forget the AC

newmug

n97 mini wrote: »

Hmm. He was suspended, possibly on full pay, the article doesn't say.

He then retired, receiving a lump sum of up to 18 months salary *tax free* and is now in receipt of a civil service pension.

I think some would say he got away very lightly.

Thats the whole point off the thread - he got away WAY too light!

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

I feel sorry for the guy, i know he broke the law but i think a bigger fine, say 5 grand, and a full suspended sentence would have done the job

Are you for real? Are you related to this scumbag thief? Automatically, he should have all entitlements cancelled, this lowlife should have been booted out the second this was proven. Then, he should get jail of such duration as to pay back the E300,000 or so he cost the taxpayer. So, at minimum wage, he would need to work for 37500 hours to repay that amount. Thats about 4 years. Thats the minimum he should have got.

kildare.17hmr

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Sory its hard to hear ya from up on your high horse there:cool:

Fine then give him a 10k fine or more hit him that way but IMO tis harsh. if 1 person here who is in the car game or any1 who has ever imported a car says they would not be delighted if they got away with extras there a bleedin liar, its happened to every1 who registers cars so should we all go join this lad in jail??

Being delighted with getting away with extras and bribing a revenue official not to see them are not the same thing. Nor is taking the bribe, over and over again.

I'm not on a high horse, defrauding the state of €340,000 is a serious offence. Plenty of folks in jail for doing less.

kildare.17hmr

newmug wrote: »

Thats the whole point off the thread - he got away WAY too light!






Are you for real? Are you related to this scumbag thief? Automatically, he should have all entitlements cancelled, this lowlife should have been booted out the second this was proven. Then, he should get jail of such duration as to pay back the E300,000 or so he cost the taxpayer. So, at minimum wage, he would need to work for 37500 hours to repay that amount. Thats about 4 years. Thats the minimum he should have got.

Yes i am for real and no im not related to him in any way. calling him a scumbag thief is a bit much. The money will be recovered from the dealers who should have paid it in the first place and him getting a heifty fine i think would have been enough.

RoverJames wrote: »

Being delighted with getting away with extras and bribing a revenue official not to see them are not the same thing. Nor is taking the bribe, over and over again.

I'm not on a high horse, defrauding the state of €340,000 is a serious offence. Plenty of folks in jail for doing less.

lad say it any way you want but what he did and what i discribed are the exact same thing at the end of it. if you register a 07 focus titanium and its not checked and you dont get charged for your extras that you know are there you ahve also knowingly defrauded the revenue.

Also plenty of bankers and polititions still walking around free without a care in the world after getting away with alot worse but thats a whole other conversation!!!:)

kildare.17hmr

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

lad say it any way you want but what he did and what i discribed are the exact same thing at the end of it. if you register a 07 focus titanium and its not checked and you dont get charged for your extras that you know are there you ahve also knowingly defrauded the revenue.

Well lad, he's in jail now so it looks like what you described and what he did got him there. Ifs and buts me arse :pac:

newmug

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Yes i am for real and no im not related to him in any way. calling him a scumbag thief is a bit much. The money will be recovered from the dealers who should have paid it in the first place and him getting a heifty fine i think would have been enough.

Stop trolling. You're not very good at it. Are you honestly saying that if someone defrauded you out of E340,000 of your savings, that you wouldn't think they were scumbag thieves? And that you'd be happy with a few grand of a fine for them? Get real.

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

lad say it any way you want but what he did and what i discribed are the exact same thing at the end of it. if you register a 07 focus titanium and its not checked and you dont get charged for your extras that you know are there you ahve also knowingly defrauded the revenue.

Also plenty of bankers and polititions still walking around free without a care in the world after getting away with alot worse but thats a whole other conversation!!!:)

Letting someone off with a few extras is one thing, making a business out of it is akin to mafia racketeering. And those bankers and politicians should get the same treatment, pay off the E120,000,000,000 on minimum wage rate behind bars. They'd die in jail, and so they should.

seamus

n97 mini wrote: »

Hmm. He was suspended, possibly on full pay, the article doesn't say.

Well to be fair, ask any solicitor and they will tell you that when you suspend an employee pending a criminal or civil trial against them, you do not suspend them without pay as this can jeopardise the case against them.

He then retired, receiving a lump sum of up to 18 months salary *tax free* and is now in receipt of a civil service pension.

Just good timing on his part I guess. Since he hadn't been officially fired or anything like that at the time of his retirement, there would be no basis on which to deny him his pension or part thereof.

Any attempt to interfere with his pension now and the unions would be hysterical.

I think some would say he got away very lightly.

I think everyone would say that. He got a year. He'll serve six months at best and go home to his no doubt fully paid for home and generous pension.

No tears for him.

kildare.17hmr

newmug wrote: »

Stop trolling. You're not very good at it. Are you honestly saying that if someone defrauded you out of E340,000 of your savings, that you wouldn't think they were scumbag thieves? And that you'd be happy with a few grand of a fine for them? Get real.






Letting someone off with a few extras is one thing, making a business out of it is akin to mafia racketeering. And those bankers and politicians should get the same treatment, pay off the E120,000,000,000 on minimum wage rate behind bars. They'd die in jail, and so they should.

Eh sorry newmug i post in here enough for people to know im not troling, its my opinion and because its different to yopurs and others you say im troling??

im not saying the guy shouldnt be punished, he should BUT i dont think jail is the right call on this one i think a big fine would have been better wether that be 5, 10 or 30 grand but a fine that would hurt him financially.

its the same thing just on a larger scale. agree the bankers and politicions should be held accountable, that was my point

newmug

kildare.17hmr wrote: »

Eh sorry newmug i post in here enough for people to know im not troling, its my opinion and because its different to yopurs and others you say im troling??

im not saying the guy shouldnt be punished, he should BUT i dont think jail is the right call on this one i think a big fine would have been better wether that be 5, 10 or 30 grand but a fine that would hurt him financially.

its the same thing just on a larger scale. agree the bankers and politicions should be held accountable, that was my point

No need to apologise, its just that your point of view is so outrageous that I believed you couldnt be serious.

So you think a fine is the way to go? Alright - E340,000 of a fine will do.

kildare.17hmr

newmug wrote: »

No need to apologise, its just that your point of view is so outrageous that I believed you couldnt be serious.

So you think a fine is the way to go? Alright - E340,000 of a fine will do.

can you have a conversation without bein a smart arse?

-Chris-

OK, let's calm things down a bit please.

n97 mini

seamus wrote: »

Since he hadn't been officially fired or anything like that at the time of his retirement, there would be no basis on which to deny him his pension or part thereof.

Some would say systematic stealing from your employer is grounds for being fired.

seamus

n97 mini wrote: »

Some would say systematic stealing from your employer is grounds for being fired.

Indeed, but that hadn't been proven. And he can't be fired until it's proven, but by the time it was proven he was no longer working for that employer.

The pension fund is not paid by the employer, it's a private fund in a 3rd party institution, so they have no way of doing anything to it. They can't backdate it to when he was initially caught, they can't take money out of it, nothing.

Which is actually a good thing in other respects. An unscrupulous employer could blame a retired employee for failures 20 years ago and reduce his pension fund.

n97 mini

seamus wrote: »

The pension fund is not paid by the employer, it's a private fund in a 3rd party institution,

As his vocation was to serve the public, his pension is paid by the Exchequer.

seamus

n97 mini wrote: »

As his vocation was to serve the public, his pension is paid by the Exchequer.

Yes, yes technicalities. It's much more complicated than that in reality. State bodies have to be separated to a certain extent. Whatever institution manages the public service pension fund isn't this guy's former employer. That institution and the revenue are two different entities, even if at the end of the day they're both answerable to the state.
At the time the guy retired, he had not be fired, disciplined or otherwise sanctioned for his conduct. Like it or lump it, he's entitled to his full pension because there is no provision to backdate penalties nor to remove his pension.

I.S.T.

He estimated the scam resulted in a total loss to revenue of €341,206. Blaney received between €1,000 and €1,500.

Way to go, he made 341K for the car dealers and pocked 1.5K for himself. So he got ripped off, and is going to jail! lol

seamus

IrishSpeedTraps wrote: »

Way to go, he made 341K for the car dealers and pocked 1.5K for himself. So he got ripped off, and is going to jail! lol

The Gardai reckoned that each car was undervalued by €4k to €5k. Which means that he did this for about 75 cars. At best he got 20 quid per car.

Ripped off is right. Though perhaps it was only money they could count. He may have gotten free servicing, knockdown prices on cars, and all sorts of other perks which couldn't be quanitified in the case.
Sounds like the kind of revenue officer who'd receive a few cases of expensive whiskey at Christmas...

n97 mini

seamus wrote: »

Yes, yes technicalities. It's much more complicated than that in reality.

It's not. His former boss is the same as mine: the Minister for Finance.

daRobot

seamus wrote: »

The Gardai reckoned that each car was undervalued by €4k to €5k. Which means that he did this for about 75 cars. At best he got 20 quid per car.

Ripped off is right. Though perhaps it was only money they could count. He may have gotten free servicing, knockdown prices on cars, and all sorts of other perks which couldn't be quanitified in the case.
Sounds like the kind of revenue officer who'd receive a few cases of expensive whiskey at Christmas...

In fairness, it's a bit naive to think that a senior revenue official was bought for anywhere near 20 quid a car. He would understand the risks of doing what he was, and the money paid would reflect this.

I'd guess he got around 10%-20% of the Vrt saving per car, but as you can imagine, if you were taking kickbacks, it would be in cash, and most likely not banked, so very hard to trace.

He got 3 years, with the last two suspended. With the overcrowding in prisons, he might just do 3-4 months proper jail time. Hardly an appropriate sentence for a corrupt revenue official.

MunsterCycling

Forfeiture of pension entitlement is what should of happened and the same for any official found wanting

Stinicker

Good to see our country has its priorities in order; A year in Jail for a man who never harmed no-one only a morally corrupt taxation system.

If he assaulted a guard or another person he'd have a got a €500 fine payable to the "poorbox", if he raped a woman he'd have been found innocent and then be able to claim millions in defamation.

His incarceration will probably cost almost as much as he is alleged to have cost the state, yet scumbags, drugdealers and economic traitors walk the streets free.

The entire ex-Fianna Fail cabinet have done more damage to the nations finances than this man who is now retired, yet will Sean Fitzpatrick, Bertie Ahern or any of the traitors ever see the inside of a jail cell?

This country has its priorities totally arse-ways.

Big Nelly

I have spent years trying to deal with Rev Comm, they are the most corrupt organization I have ever met, everything has to be something under the table or they wont look at you, unfortunate for me I work with company that doesnt allow that sort of dealing so never got anywhere.

Fcuking joke the whole place!!!! I bet the only reason he got caught was because one of his other mates got done out of a few quid and done him in, there is another 100 of them in there waiting to take his place, scumbags the whole lot of them

Atlantic Dawn

MunsterCycling wrote: »

Forfeiture of pension entitlement is what should of happened and the same for any official found wanting

This would have got his union involved and we would have another go slow dispute like the Passport office last year.

firefly08

Are you honestly saying that if someone defrauded you out of E340,000 of your savings, that you wouldn't think they were scumbag thieves?

With all this talk of stealing and defrauding etc...can someone explain to me who's money it was that he stole?

Big Nelly

firefly08 wrote: »

With all this talk of stealing and defrauding etc...can someone explain to me who's money it was that he stole?

Your money!! you will end up paying it in tax so it comes out of your pocket in long run!!!

wellieboot

I see CAB was involved. I suspect that there's more to this that will come out when the dealers are tried.

charlemont

Voodoomelon wrote: »

Thats not gonna be a pleasant year in prison for a revenue official.

Where did you hear he would be doing a year? I reckon he will be out very soon, nobody serves full sentence here, what with quarter remission and temporary release, the jails are stuffed, he wont do over two weeks..He probably has no previous convictions and the tax offence is not violent so he is not gonna be kept in jail.

firefly08

Your money!! you will end up paying it in tax so it comes out of your pocket in long run!!!

My money, eh? And how did I come by it, in the first place?

Big Nelly

firefly08 wrote: »

My money, eh? And how did I come by it, in the first place?

Well I would guess if you have a job then you pay tax so out of your pocket

If you dont have a job, quit wasting your time on boards and go out there and get one:D

Johnny Utah

RoverJames wrote: »

That's more or less getting off with it then, a €5000 fine wouldn't inconvenience him hugely and a suspended sentance wouldn't either if he intended to behave himself, a lad of his age wouldn't be trying to emmigrate either. He did the crime let him do the time. I'd be surprised if he served the entire sentance anyway.

Too many suspended sentances being lashed out in Ireland.

If each incident cost €4000 to €5000 in lost revenue and they reckon €340,000 was lost in total that's over 70 cars. At €100 a pop that's €7000 minimum. There's probably an element of the office bike there too, more lads have had a go than folks know about.

:pac:

Moral of the story: when you've got a good thing goin', keep it to yourself!

Padraig Mor

Any word on what dealers were (allegedly) involved? €80k cars doesn't suggest Johnny the DoneDeal Trader!

-Chris-

No naming of dealers please, unless you can support it with reputable links.

kildare.17hmr

http://www.rte.ie/news/2009/0326/car.html

Three car dealers and a tax official have appeared in court in Dublin charged with VRT fraud on cars.
The four men were arrested and charged this morning by officers from the Criminal Assets Bureau following a two-year investigation as part of Operation Tie.
Lee Cullen, Richard Mockler and John Dunne are all car dealers in Dublin, while Gerard Blaney worked as a senior tax official in Revenue offices in Tallaght.
Lee Cullen of Exclusive Cars in Saggart faces 21 VRT fraud charges relating to a loss of €151,284 to Revenue.
John Dunne of Tony Boland Car Sales on the Naas Road faces ten charges amounting to a total loss of €48,950.
Richard Mockler of The New Road Motor Company in Clondalkin is charged with six offences, which relate to a revenue loss of €24,443.
Gerard Blaney faces 27 similar VRT fraud charges and one charge of corruption.
All charges relate to a total of €222,675 loss to Revenue.
All four were released on bail and due to appear in court again on 7 May.

Joe 90

n97 mini wrote: »

As his vocation was to serve the public, his pension is paid by the Exchequer.

His pension is paid by the taxpayer.