Former Fianna Fáil senator Ivor Callely was arrested in Dublin this afternoon over mobile phone expenses he claimed during his time in the Seanad.
The former politician (53) was arrested shortly after midday in Clontarf by members of the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation.
He is being questioned at Irishtown Garda station under section four of the Criminal Justice Act. His period of detention was extended shortly after 6pm for another six hours.
Mr Callely's home and former constituency office in Clontarf were searched today.
A file on Mr Callely was sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) last April following an investigation by the Standards in Public Office Commission into irregular mobile phone claims.
It emerged in 2010 that Mr Callely had claimed €2,907 in expenses in 2007 for purchasing mobile phones and car kits from a company that had ceased trading in 1994. The claims were made from the period between 2002 and 2005 when Mr Callely was a junior minister.
Mr Callely was elected to the Dáil for Dublin North Central in 1989 and lost his seat in 2007. He failed to win election to the Seanad in that year but was appointed as one of taoiseach Bertie Ahern's 11 nominees.
Mr Callely did not contest the Dáil or Seanad elections last year.