EU’s anti-fraud agency opens Garda college probe

The EU’s anti-fraud agency has opened a formal investigation into the Garda college, which is likely to include interviews with key gardaí and searches of linked facilities.

The Office Européen de Lutte Anti-Fraude (OLAF) confirmed the move last night after spending weeks examining concerns that hundreds of thousands of euro in EU grants may have been misused since 1998.

As previously reported by the Irish Examiner, the anti-fraud agency has been carrying out a preliminary examination of issues at the Garda college. Unlike the Dáil Public Accounts Committee investigation into the college, which will be published tomorrow, the OLAF inquiry was focussed solely on concerns over how large amounts of EU grants meant for frontline services were instead transferred to a private account. The account was based in the AIB branch in Cabra, Dublin City, and controlled by a former high-ranking garda.