Ireland’s Department of Finance has confirmed that BNY Mellon, London branch, will be the preferred tenderer for the provision of escrow agency and custodian services in connection with the alleged Apple State aid recovery process.
In October last year, the European Commission referred Ireland to the European Court of Justice for failing to recover from Apple illegal State aid worth up to €13 billion, as required by a commission decision.
The commission concluded in 2016 that Ireland’s tax benefits to Apple were illegal under EU State aid rules because it allowed Apple to pay substantially less tax than other businesses.
According to MerrionStreet, Ireland’s government news service, the coming weeks will see the State and Apple working with BNY Mellon to “finalise the contract and operation arrangements for the escrow”.
