“We can confirm that representatives of HM [Her Majesty’s] Revenue and Customs have advised us that they are conducting an investigation and visited our Belfast office yesterday”, said a statement from KPMG given to Irish Times Thursday.
Advertisement
The professional services firm has said that it does not have any indication that the investigation relates to the business of either KPMG or their clients.
Four senior partners in KPMG in Belfast have been placed on immediate administrative leave.
“As the matter is on-going, KPMG is not in a position to make any further comment at this stage”.
But it is understood they include the Belfast operation’s chairman Jon D’Arcy, who heads its audit and transaction services team, as well as the firm’s tax practice head Eamonn Donaghy. “We can’t comment further”.
Last week, the Northern Irish parties reached a deal to save the power-sharing devolved government from collapse. Northern Ireland is semi-autonomous, but its tax policy is linked to Britain’s 20 percent corporate tax rate.
A PSNI spokesperson said that it is aware of these arrests – but criminal proceedings are not now under way.
The four men are known to have set up a private investment company in 2005 called JEAP, from the initials of their first names.
The firm suffered heavy financial losses when the property market crashed in 2008.
Advertisement
It is not clear if that forms part of the HMRC investigation.
