Four former partners at KPMG’s Belfast office have won the right to challenge HMRC over the legality of a probe into their personal tax affairs, after a court was told a raid on their offices and homes was a ‘publicity stunt’
Eamonn Donaghy, Jon D'Arcy, Paul Hollway and Arthur O'Brien were arrested in November but have not been charged with any wrongdoing.
The four have now made an application to the High Court for a judicial review of the decision to give HMRC warrants to search their homes and offices, claiming that this was unlawful as key correspondence between them and the tax authority was not made available.
Their lawyers argued that HMRC omitted to provide significant information about the men’s co-operation at an earlier stage of the investigation the previous year, which meant the judges who approved the warrants did not have all the relevant information.
The men’s barrister told the court: ‘These applications for search warrants, both of the houses and of the office, were actuated by an improper, collateral purpose.
‘This was essentially a publicity stunt rather than a valid, genuine application for warrants to obtain documentation.’
A panel of three senior judges at the High Court granted leave to seek a judicial review after identifying reasons to extend time and a public interest in the case.
A full hearing will now take place in October.
At the time of the HMRC raid on its Belfast offices in November last year, KPMG said it was co-operating with the investigation and had placed the men on administrative leave. In February this year, the firm said the four partners had retired.
KPMG said the inquiry related solely to the executives' personal affairs and was unrelated to the company's business or its clients.
