€3.7m grants in cross-border projects probed

Questionable spending involving more than €3.7m in grant aid has allegedly occurred in cross-border projects linked to the peace process.

The funding was paid to a project supported under the European Commission’s Interreg IIIA programme.

A forensic accountant was appointed to examine the project’s books. It found that 97% of its spending should not have been made.

The project’s system for authorising spending was deemed to be “seriously flawed” and, out of 12 objectives linked to its grant funding, only one had been achieved.

Efforts to recoup the money are continuing but have thus far been unsuccessful.

The matter is in addition to £574,793 (€669,194) paid to four projects by the same funder, the Special European Union Programmes Body, before concerns were raised about the misappropriation of funds.

A stop was put on £1.35m which the projects had been authorised to claim but had yet to draw down.

However, doubts have been raised about the nature of the investigation into some of the alleged issues.

Two of the projects were linked to a group run by loyalist activist Willie Frazer.

The group Families Acting for Innocent Relatives, run by Mr Frazer, publicly denied there had been any wrongdoing when the funding was suspended in 2011.

It has subsequently received documents from the Public Prosecution Service in the North, which found there had been no suggestion money was spent in any way other than which it was intended.

The PPS’s summary also said Families Acting for Innocent Relatives had been given inaccurate information from the funding bodies about procurement rules. It said there was insufficient evidence to support a criminal case and this was decided, in 2011, by the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

This jarred with separate documents presented to Pobal’s finance committee — the grants body in the Republic — in Mar 2013.

Documents said a forensic audit had supported the allegations funds had been misappropriated.

Mr Frazer said his organisation is now being funded again and he has no case to answer.

Oversight for all of the projects originally fell on the SEUPB.

It has refused to release information on the specifics of these cases and said it cannot comment because of continuing legal proceedings.

Mr Frazer said no such action has been lodged.

SEUPB also claimed legal action is due in relation to the Saver/Naver group in Armagh, which had been paid £249,000 before its funding was stopped after an investigation into the misappropriation of funds.

Funding to a fourth, unidentified group, was also stopped.

A note in SEUPB’s accounts said efforts to recover the €3.7m paid under the Interreg IIIA programme had passed to other accounting agencies.