Garda chief leads Callely probe

THE escalating controversy surrounding Ivor Callely’s expenses claims took a dramatic turn last night as Garda Commissioner Fachtna Murphy intervened personally in the affair.

As political pressure intensified on the embattled senator to quit the upper house, Commissioner Murphy wrote to the clerk of the Seanad after Green TD Paul Gogarty lodged an official complaint with gardaí urging them to investigate the allegations swirling around Mr Callely.

The move came as the Seanad’s watchdog ethics committee announced it would also probe allegations that Mr Callely forged invoices to claim almost €3,000 for phone kits when he was a junior minister in 2007.