Fraud claims may not be being investigated by PSNI

A businessman whose former company is accused by Bank of Ireland of fraud says a High Court judge has questioned whether the police are investigating the claim.

John Conway, the former owner of Tyrone-based Meteor Controls International, which featured in a TV programme in which the bank's staff were filmed allegedly falsifying invoices for an insurance claim, said the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) never spoke to him about the lender's fraud complaint. "A High Court judge has recently given judgment wherein he confirms that he has not been satisfied that there is any live PSNI investigation," he said yesterday.

A BBC Northern Ireland Spotlight programme this week documented Mr Conway's long-running dispute with Bank of Ireland, which began when Meteor Controls International went into liquidation in 2009 with liabilities of £7.6 million (€10.7 million).

The programme broadcast footage of bank staff, picked up by its closed-circuit TV cameras, showing that one of them allegedly falsified an invoice to claim credit insurance for €12,000. The bank says that when it went to collect debts due to it under a finance agreement, it found irregularities in the operation of one of its credit facilities. This led to it making a criminal complaint against Meteor Controls International.

However, Mr Conway says it did not complain to the PSNI until five years after the liquidation and only did so after he indicated that he intended to sue it.