Police confirm they were asked to investigate following submission of media Freedom of Information request to the local authority
Police are investigating a report of suspected fraud at Mid Ulster District Council.
The report was received the day after a Freedom of Information request was submitted on whistleblowing.
While the nature of the alleged fraud remains unclear, the issue came to light when a whistleblower raised concerns, sparking an internal investigation.
It is not known when this commenced, but it was at least several weeks before the PSNI was alerted.
A series of Freedom of Information requests were submitted to the council on October 30.
The PSNI received a report of suspected fraud the following day.
The request asked how many incidents of whistleblowing had occurred since April 1 this year.
The council confirmed there had been one, and provided a copy of its policy on the issue.
Asked if all whistleblower concerns regarding fraud were handed over to the PSNI, it said such issues are applied against the scope of and investigated in line with the whistleblowing policy, adding that where appropriate the Northern Ireland Audit Office is informed.
The policy was again referenced when asked if investigations encompassed all potential conflicts of interest.
In response to an enquiry about whether any current or previous staff were found to have committed fraud or theft after previous whistleblowing or internal investigations, the council said one such...
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