A top cross-border administrator is under investigation as part of a police investigation into a €196,000 loan, it was revealed today.
Mr John McKinney, chief executive to the special EU programmes body which handles grants in Northern Ireland and the Republic, has been suspended on full pay.
Detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland were called in following an investigation by the Northern Ireland local government auditor arising from a loan to the Tyrone-based Fintona Regeneration Initiative Ltd.
The police inquiry and his suspension were confirmed by the Departments of Finance and Personnel in Belfast and Dublin.
Mr McKinney heads up the EU programmes body, one of six set up under the terms of the Belfast Agreement, which handles funding of up to €981 million.
The £140,000 sterling loan was made by Omagh council to the Fintona organisation in the mid 1990s when Mr McKinney was chief executive.
PA