DUBLIN: Northern Ireland is losing £80m per year in uncollected revenue due to illicit fuel and cigarettes.
The Customs authorities in Northern Ireland were also accused of overseeing this ‘crime’ by an MLA. A senior official also faced fierce criticism from Stormont’s justice committee over the high levels of illegal fuel and cigarettes here.
Assembly Members heard that around £80m a year is lost in uncollected revenue due to illicit fuel in Northern Ireland, with around the same lost due to illegal cigarettes.
Members were also told that while the proportion of fuel that is illegal in Britain is around 2%, in Northern Ireland it is 13%. With cigarettes it is 13% in Britain, compared to 15-17% in Northern Ireland.
DUP committee member Edwin Poots challenged Mike Parkinson from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) over the figures, saying: “Are you happy that you are overseeing the crime capital of the UK?”
The HMRC assistant director of criminal investigations replied: “Obviously not.
“We have the only land border in the UK. It does bring additional areas for us to look at. We certainly aren’t happy about that (the extent of the problem) and we are certainly doing all we can to prevent that.”
Mr Poots said the loss of £80m a year would not be acceptable in the private sector and said HMRC was not providing a “credible service”.
Mr Parkinson said while he was disappointed only 28 people had been convicted in relation to fuel crime in the last four years he noted that 43 individuals were currently waiting on prosecutors to indicate whether they would face prosecution.
