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08th Nov 2017

Brendan O’Carroll hits out at suggestions his family was involved in tax avoidance

It follows the release of the Paradise papers.

Alan Loughnane

tax

An emphatic response…

Brendan O’Carroll has denied suggestions that he or his family are involved in tax avoidance in the wake of the release of the Paradise Papers.

The papers, released to a German publication this week, allegedly said that Patrick Houlihan, and Martin and Fiona Delaney, all stars of the popular show Mrs Brown’s Boys, put more than £2 million into companies in Mauritius as part of a tax avoidance scheme.

It is claimed as part of the scheme, the money was transferred to Mauritius companies who deducted 12.5% and then loaned the money back to the actors’ accounts through a third party company.

But O’Carroll has denied the claims levelled against his family in the papers and he’s also spoken out about a BBC Panorama episode which saw a BBC reporter confront members of his family about the allegations.

Responding to the broadcaster at the time, O’Carroll said in a statement: “I reserve the right to take the most severe legal action available to me. That is lawyer speak. I would have just said: ‘Fuck off’.”

But speaking to The Irish Sun, he had some choice words for Richard Bilton, who approached members of O’Carroll’s family about the claims on BBC Panorama.

“I wonder what sort of journalistic craving doing that fulfils for you,” O’Carroll said. “The reporter didn’t learn anything from the conversation or the brutal way he approached her. Yet they went ahead and showed it.

“Fiona was genuinely confused by this guy, running up, asking her about her wages. She didn’t know who he was, or what he was talking about.

“She is not an oligarch laundering money through Greek banks, nor does she deal in the arms trade, deal drugs or traffic people.

“She has never committed a crime in her life, she doesn’t have a private yacht or own a collection of luxury cars. She drives a Kia people carrier which is necessary if you have four toddlers.”

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