‘SLUSH FUND’ AT GARDA COLLEGE
Damning audit reveals Templemore broke the law – and orders it to hand over its golf course
AN AUDIT into the Garda College in Templemore has ordered it to pay back hundreds of thousands of euros to the State, and to close 50 bank accounts, the Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The damning internal investigation found several instances where the College broke the law. It will heap fresh pressure on the embattled Garda Com- missioner as it comes after revelations that gardaí fabricated records of almost a million breathalyser tests and up to 14,700 convictions for road traffic offences based on fixed-charged notices that were never actually issued.
Commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan called those practices ‘unacceptable’ last night, but her response was criticised as inadequate by Fianna Fáil, on whom Fine Gael’s minority government rely to pass Oireachtas legislation.
The MoS reveals today details of the shocking ‘Interim Audit Report on Financial Procedures in the Garda College Templemore, 2017’ by the Garda Internal Audit Section (GIAS), which shows:
A total of 50 Garda College bank accounts. The College broke the law when it opened one acount in 2015 without the minister’s consent as it violates the 2005 Garda Síochána Act.
All bank accounts, except one, under college management should be closed.
The College broke the law by having Gardaí act as company directors – as it is prohibited under the 2005 Garda Síochána Act.
The College leased land from the State to run its own golf course for trainees.
The golf course, which is adjacent to the College must, along with all other assets, be handed back to the State.
A litany of violations relating to the college restaurant which was essentially used as a multi-purpose cash source for ‘non restaurant’ payments.
The Garda college restaurant has paid no tax and may have a ‘significant liability for income tax, penalties and interest going back many years’.
The College Bar’s credit union account had a balance of €417,068 in October 2010. Large transfers were made from it to keep the restaurant going.
Rental income of €124,903 from a farm owned by the Office of Public Works was transferred to the Garda College Restaurant account. It must be paid back to the State.
€100,000 was transferred from the College to the Garda Boat Club. A senior officer says this was done ‘for the right reason’.
€15,964 in funding must be paid back to the EU.
The College paid out sums such as ‘€1,600 to Boxing Club’ and ‘€257 to Keane Jewellers’.
The Garda auditor was asked to investigate allegations of misuse of funds at the training college in the Tipperary town of Templemore. The findings reveal an extraordinary level of malpractice.
A GIAS member told the MoS the College operated a sort of ‘slush fund’. ‘The guards don’t seem to believe that the laws apply to them,’ he said.
The Commissioner will now have to deal the Justice Department over the findings as the Garda Síochána Act has been violated.
The report expresses doubt in management at the College saying the auditor cannot be assured that ‘internal management and control systems in place to manage the finances at the Garda College are adequate’.
It says the ‘financial controls at the Garda College’ do not comply ‘with the Public Financial Proce- dures’. The audit committee even recommends Garda management seek legal advice before liaising with the Justice Minister.
The auditors found a shocking and extraordinary litany of breaches of law and accepted business practice. And all this happened despite the fact that a previous investigation had taken place in 2008 – fact the current audit committee did not learn of until last year.
Its report states that: ‘The College management responded [to the 2008 auditors] in March 2010, rejecting many of the recommendations of the Finance Directorate’s Report.’
Commissioner O’Sullivan was given the lastest damning report at a high-level meeting last Thursday, according to sources at Garda headquarters. She received the report two hours before the details of the fabricated breathalyser and penalty points scandals emerged. The report stresses the gravity of its findings. It specifically advises that the issues it raises ‘are serious and present considerable risk to the organisation and should be dealt with in an open and transparent man- ner’. It advises that the ‘issue as to whether a report should be made to the minister per Section 41 of the Garda Síochána Act 2005 is essentially a legal issue’. Section 41 requires the Commissioner to keep the Minister informed of matters that would reduce public confidence in the force.
A source on the audit committee told the MoS: ‘There are issues regarding monies that were being incorrectly spent. What I mean by that is they were treating the money as if it was their own. [For example] the €100,000 they gave to the Garda Rowing Club.
‘The profit was being kept on payments that were made to train gardaí for their College’s use. There is no suggestion that the money was misappropriated. But that was State money… if it wasn’t used for its stated use, it should be handed back. It became a kind of a slush fund. They bought a farm of land with it, they sent money to the Garda Boat Club.’
Dromad Farm was bought by the OPW for the college with the intention of ‘developing a tactical training centre’ for An Garda Síochána and ‘a conference centre for the Justice sector’. The report explains that ‘following the fiscal crisis this centre was never developed and it was left idle for some years.’
The land was leased out and ‘between 2009 and 2013, €124,903 was collected from rental income and lodged to the Garda Restaurant Account’.
The report says that the Garda Appropriation Accounts 2015 should be amended to reflect that ‘financial controls’ are not ‘compliant’.
It said Garda management must take control of the controversial cash business away from the College. ‘All revenue from the Garda restaurant, shop (including vending
Report advises gardaí to seek legal advice
machines) and bar should be brought into the Garda Vote [budget].
It said a company called the Garda College Sportsfield Co Ltd is essentially a land holding company and it is illegal for gardaí to be involved in land contracts.
The report says it should be wound up and ‘all assets including all associated assets such as the Sportsfield land and golf course land should be taken into State Control’.
It goes on to say that ‘all bank accounts and investment accounts linked with the College should be closed and the balances surren- dered’ and ‘all land and buildings should be transferred to the control of the OPW’.
The report says that Garda staff who were directors should take ‘immediate steps to correct the public record’ and make declarations under ethics legislation. It is against the law for public servants to become directors without the permission of a government minister. There is no evidence of such permission having been received.
A large section of the report is devoted to the Garda College Restaurant where the total expenditure for [six years] was €6.49m. There were large cash transfers in and out of this account. There were separate ‘Investment Accounts’ holding sums of up to €1,216,490 in 2009. Large lodgements were also made to ‘elevator accounts at a time’ at a time when the country was being bailed out by the Troika. A member of the audit committee said they had to ‘drag’ information out of the Gardaí and that it was ‘drip fed’. ‘My take is that the Guards must not believe that the laws apply to them,’ he said.
The GIAS was also involved with the audit of the fixed charge penalty notice which exploded into public view last week.
‘We meet the commissioner once a year and we met her on Thursday inside in Garda Headquarters,’ said a member of GIAS. ‘There was no mention of what was coming up in the afternoon news conference about the penalty points and the drink driving.’
A Garda spokesman said yesterday the audit report ‘was transmitted to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s Office’ and would be forwarded to the Justice Department and the Policing Authority tomorrow ‘along with details of actions taken in advance of the finalisation of this report’.
‘Gardaí don’t seem to feel law applies to them’