Commission official in Dublin suspended

An inquiry into financial irregularities in the Dublin office of the European C Commission has led to the suspension of a Dublin-based Commission official.

The Commission in Brussels yesterday confirmed that an investigation, conducted by officers of the Union's anti-fraud unit, UCLAF, has not yet been completed but that an official has been suspended from his duties and disciplinary charges have been initiated against him.

Sources say the investigation has already lasted a couple of months.

A spokesman for UCLAF, Mr Siegfried Reinke, told The Irish Times that "so far, investigations have revealed that community programmes are not involved and that the financial impact of the alleged irregularities is very limited".

Mr Reinke said that when UCLAF had finished the inquiry "the Commission will take further appropriate action".

Neither the Commission nor the head of the Dublin office, Mr Colm Larkin, would be drawn on the name of the suspended official or on the scale of the problem.

The Commission office in Dublin, like those elsewhere, does not handle large sums of money as community programmes like structural funds are passed directly to governments or funding bodies. Even the salaries for the Dublin office are understood to be handled in Brussels, although the office would have significant information and administration budgets.

UCLAF was established in 1988 and revamped and expanded in 1995. In 1996, the unit conducted more than 300 investigations.