Two men are held over inquiry into alleged €450,000 fraud at University of Limerick

 13th March 2022

Two men were arrested in Limerick last week in relation to a €450,000 fraud investigation at the University of Limerick (UL).

The investigation relates to historical severance payments made to two former employees and a series of events put in train more than 10 years ago.

Questions have previously been asked of the processes that allowed such payments to be made

The men, both aged in their 60s, were arrested and questioned at Henry Street garda station in Limerick on Wednesday.

They were held overnight before being released on Thursday.

UL said it would not comment on the nature of the investigation, but a spokeswoman said the university “will cooperate fully with any investigation undertaken by An Garda Síochána”.

A garda spokesman said detectives from the anti-bribery and corruption unit at the Garda National Economic Crime Bureau arrested the men.

He said the investigation related to “alleged corrupt practices at a public body in Munster”.

“They have both since been released and files are being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. Investigations are ongoing,” he added.

Sources said the university has been assisting gardaí with their inquiries, helping with the retrieval of documents and supplying information that may be of assistance to the garda investigation.

Gardaí have not visited the college campus for more than a year in relation to the ongoing investigation, one source said.

Another source said none of the inquiries related to recent events at the university or the college’s leadership.

“This is something that happened a long time ago and everyone is doing whatever they can to help the gardaí conduct their investigation quickly,” a source said.

Last year UL’s president, Professor Kerstin Mey, told the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that the university “briefed” gardaí in relation to an alleged fraud at UL.

This came after the college sought legal advice following a discussion at another PAC hearing two years earlier.

In 2019, then-Fianna Fáil TD Marc MacSharry urged the university to contact gardaí in relation to an alleged fraud at the university.

UL’s then-president, Dr Des Fitzgerald, told the committee the university had sought legal advice in relation to a series of allegations but had been told “there was no evidence of fraud”.

The committee had previously heard about concerns within the Department of Education and from the Comptroller and Auditor General that UL had not given them full details about severance payments that were made to some former staff members, some of whom later took on roles as consultants.

An independent review called the processes around severance payments at UL “confusing”, and noted the department had no approved scheme for severance payments.

It found “at least some of the payments breached public pay guidelines”.

Mr MacSharry, now an Independent TD, called on Dr Fitzgerald to write to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris “and ask the fraud department to examine the outcome of these reports with a view to holding a detailed investigation”.

Last year, Prof Mey told the committee UL had sought to make progress on the matter since meeting the PAC in 2019.