Hoteliers fined £2.2m for fraud

The McParland brothers were fined a total of £2.2m

Two brothers who own the Canal Court Hotel in Newry have been fined £1.1m each for tax evasion.

Patrick and John McParland were also given suspended four-year jail sentences and have been banned from directing any company for seven years.

The brothers pleaded guilty to making tax declarations to the inland revenue which failed to disclose details of more than 20 bank accounts.

The declarations were delivered in the 1980s and 90s.

They covered the period from April 1971 to August 1992.

At a previous hearing on 1 October, at the Royal Courts of Justice in Belfast, the brothers from Kesh Road in Camlough, County Armagh, were ordered to pay £3,399,042 in confiscation orders for unpaid income tax and interest due.

The brothers own the Canal Court hotel in Newry

The three-year investigation by HM Revenue and Customs uncovered 20 offshore bank accounts previously held in the Isle of Man, Jersey and the Republic of Ireland as well as four offshore Trusts set up for the personal benefit of the brothers and their families.

Speaking outside the court, Steve Armitt of HMRC said the high fines imposed showed the seriousness of the case.

"The days when hiding assets offshore was seen as a safe bet for evading the UK's taxes have gone," he said.