A leading Belfast republican has been found not guilty after a long-running police investigation into claims that a club in West Belfast was funding the IRA.
Mr Liam Shannon, a former chairman of the Irish Republican Felons Club, successfully appealed against a £200 fine for failing to co-operate with special financial investigators appointed under the Proceeds of Crime Order.
Judge David McFarland held that Mr Shannon, from La Salle Park, Belfast, had reasonable grounds for refusing to be interviewed by the investigators because of the risk of incriminating himself after he was charged with false accounting.
The police investigation into the club's affairs began with a raid in May, 1997, when documents and computer equipment were seized. The investigation which followed is believed to have cost several hundred thousand pounds.
Meanwhile, Mr Shannon and a dozen other club members were in court yesterday to hear Magistrate Paul McRandall say that he will deliver judgement on July 26th on whether or not he will allow criminal charges against them to proceed.
Mr Barra McGrory, solicitor for the defence, argued that the charges should be thrown out because undue delay in putting the defendants on trial was in breach of their human rights.