UUP executive in probe

THE chief executive of the Ulster Unionist Party was one of two men questioned about suspected serious offences within the Electoral Office for Northern Ireland, it emerged yesterday.

Alastair Patterson and another former electoral office employee were helping police with inquiries into allegations of forgery, false accounting and corruption.

A police spokeswoman confirmed that two men were being questioned about alleged offences within the electoral office between 1996 and 2001.