UDA finance officer disappears amid internal inquiry

The Ulster Defence Association’s finance officer has reportedly disappeared after the organisation ordered an investigation into irregularities in the distribution of cash.

The man, who was based in the Lower Shankill area of west Belfast, was in charge of money used to buy weapons, to commission murals and to help the families of UDA prisoners.

One loyalist source said the man was in charge of large sums of money gained through illegal activities in Belfast, but it is unclear if any of the money is missing.

The inquiry into cash irregularities was ordered after it emerged that some prisoners’ families were being paid up to 10 times what they should have been.