Army fraud suspects may face Garda

Two members of the Defence Forces who were involved in an alleged 10-year misappropriation of funds may face a Garda investigation, Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea has said.

The Army last week stated that €70,000 had been recovered and that, because the personnel involved had not used other expended funds for their own personal gain, gardaí would not be called in.

However, Mr O'Dea has said he is not satisfied with statements on the matter made by the Southern Command, in whose area the matter took place.

"The final decision will rest with me as Minister for Defence to decide on what further action is needed . . . If I believe there was any form of criminal activity involved, I will ask outside authorities to investigate and I will make that decision once I study the Military Police (MP) investigation report this week."

The Irish Times understands that Mr O'Dea believes three hotels who were allegedly participating in the misappropriation of funds, as well as the Defence Forces personnel involved, may have questions to answer.

An investigation by MPs was begun two months ago into allegations that two quartermasters (non-commissioned officers) had been misappropriating funds. It was alleged that the two men, who have since applied to be discharged from the Defence Forces, were leaving money on deposit at hotels.

The men were responsible for paying the meal bills at three hotels for large groups of reservists after weekend training exercises. It is alleged they were informing the Defence Forces that more people had gone training than had actually turned up.

They were then allegedly paying the hotels by cheque for more meals thawere consumed and allegedly had an arrangement with the hotels whereby the surplus money was kept on deposit for them. The money was then used during future visits.

It is alleged the men were also taking some cash sums from the money on deposit and using it to buy supplies such as stationery.

When the matter came to light, some €70,000 was being held on deposit by three hotels. This has since been recovered.

However, it is believed the alleged misappropriation took place for up to 10 years and that much larger sums were involved during the entire period.

In a separate development, MPs have begun an inquiry into allegations that a member of the Defence Forces at Rockhill Barracks, Letterkenny, Co Donegal, had been stealing diesel from military vehicles and replacing it with illegal, laundered fuel.

It has been alleged the fuel used to refill the vehicles at Rockhill had its origins in an illicit fuel laundering operation run by individuals linked to the Provisional IRA. Much of the laundered fuel operations in Border counties are controlled by paramilitary figures.

Mr O'Dea has confirmed that an allegation relating to the larceny of fuel is being investigated.

He said that while one member of the Defence Forces had been interviewed in the course of this investigation, he had not been suspended. No suspension mechanism exists within the Defence Forces.

He declined to comment on the detail of the investigation.