Probe into mistaken payment of Covid relief cash not yet begun – Simon Byrne

Sinn Fein West Tyrone MLA Catherine Kelly, former MP Elisha McCallion and two officials resigned over a delay in repaying unsolicited £10,000 grants which were wrongly paid into three party accounts.

MP and MLA constituency offices were not eligible for the Small Business Support Grant Scheme announced by Economy Minister Diane Dodds (DUP) earlier this year.

But payments were sent automatically to any firm in receipt of Small Business Rate Relief.

The Department for the Economy said 24,700 grants were paid out under the scheme. Of those, 2% (452) may not have been eligible.

The grants paid into the Sinn Fein accounts were not paid back until last week.

Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald said the “failure to immediately return grants erroneously paid into Sinn Fein accounts is a most serious situation”.

DUP MLA Gary Middleton asked police to investigate whether “a potential offence” may have been committed.

PSNI Chief Constable Simon Byrne told the Northern Ireland Policing Board yesterday that an investigation had not yet started.

“There has been a lot of interest in the last few days about the alleged crime that may go alongside the payment of Covid grants,” he said.

“A political representative did personally report this matter to me last Friday and we assessed what was said there, and, as would be the course in terms of our crime recording rules, recorded a crime, but we have not yet begun an investigation.

“Effectively we are waiting for a determination from the Department for the Economy, who are effectively the complainant, as to whether they see that the standard has been met that there has been criminal behaviour as opposed to any other form of issue.

“As soon as we have clarity on that point from them, I can let you know.”

Mr Byrne also mentioned an ongoing investigation into alleged breaches of coronavirus regulations at the funeral of senior republican Bobby Storey.

“The investigations continue, Mark Webster is still actively leading that investigation on our behalf. As soon as we have a clear conclusion we will be able to update further, but I can’t really say much more meaningful than that at the moment,” he said.