Full coverage: Pensions

The sprawling case into the disappearance of a multi-million pension fund has raised a far-reaching question: what should a court do when a party ordered to produce documents is unable to do so because of an IT meltdown?

From offshore schemes to unregulated funds, financial advisers are always looking for a new scheme to peddle. Given some of the products on offer, it is hard not to see this as a race between the Central Bank and a series of blowouts in the marketplace.

Despite various official investigations and Revenue warnings, the quantum of pension funds being transferred overseas peaked last year. Most went to tax-efficient structures in Malta.

An Irish businessman challenged an assessment by the Revenue Commissioners on a hefty pension distribution, claiming that he was living in Malta and had no home available to him in Ireland.