KEY BANKERS ADVISED TO 'SIT TIGHT' OVER INQUIRIES - A number of key figures at the centre of the banking scandal have been advised by lawyers to "sit tight" because the State will find it extremely difficult to prove deliberate wrongdoing. The Irish Independent has learned that some bankers have been advised that the State will face an uphill task in convincing a court there was intent to commit a crime. Ireland has a weak record on the prosecution of white-collar crimes and complex fraud actions, owing to the high proof thresholds required in the prosecution of such cases. The key figures have also been advised that prosecution will be made even more difficult if it can be shown that regulatory authorities knew about or supported certain transactions. There has never been a successful prosecution for insider trading in Ireland and the Markets Abuse Directive, an EU-wide law that regulates insider trading and market manipulation, has never been tested in an Irish court. Earlier this year the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement (ODCE) told the High Court that it could take another two years for prosecutions, if any, to flow from its inquiries into Anglo Irish Bank. The ODCE has not secured one conviction in its near 10-year history, during which not one white-collar criminal has bee sent to jail.
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JACOB FRUITFIELD SEES PROFIT OF €11.1m AFTER MAJOR RESTRUCTURING - Irish biscuit manufacturer Jacob Fruitfield returned to the black in 2009 as cost savings from a major restructuring of the business in recent years fed through to its bottom line. Accounts for Jacob Fruitfield Food Group Ltd, which have been supplied to The Irish Times, show that it made an after-tax profit of €11.1 million in 2009 compared with a loss of €22.3 million a year earlier. This was despite a 9.4% decline in turnover to €81.6 million. The drop in revenues was largely the result of a decision to cease distributing goods for other companies. The turnaround was the result of one-off restructuring charges and exceptional costs not being repeated in 2009. In the previous year, Jacob Fruitfield booked an exceptional charge of €7 million and restructuring costs of €23.6 million. By contrast, the biscuit maker incurred similar one-off costs of just €2.3 million in 2009. The business went through a major restructuring in recent years as the Jacob and Fruitfield businesses were merged; its manufacturing plants in Tallaght were closed, and production was moved overseas. Jacob Fruitfield, whose brands include Chef, Silvermints, Kimberley, Mikado, Bolands and Fig Rolls, recorded an operating profit last year of €16 million - eight times the level of 2008.
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TUC SAYS BANKS WILL TAKE £19 BILLION 'DOUBLE SUBSIDY' - Banks will be accused today of knocking £19 billion off their tax bills despite the multibillion-pound taxpayer bail-out of the sector, says the London Independent. A report by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) has found that British lenders will be able to avoid paying the sum on future profits by offsetting their losses during the financial crisis against future tax bills. The huge write-off amounts to as much as £1,100 for every family in the UK, the organisation will say. The TUC report, Taxing Banks, has been written by Richard Murphy, a chartered accountant and director of Tax Research, which advises organisations on tax issues, and founder of the Tax Justice Network. The report will argue that the £19 billion counts as an effective "double subsidy" when set against the huge package of aid that banks have received in the form of direct bail-out and funding arrangements such as the Bank of England's "special liquidity scheme". The report will also say that banks could soon be paying a lower rate of tax than small businesses - as little as 17%. It argues that the corporate tax gap - the difference between the rate of tax set by the Government and the actual rate companies pay - has grown by an average of 0.5 percentage points a year over the past decade.
