More garda∅ may be questioned as part of an investigation into the relationship between the Garda S∅ochβna and a tyre company, Advance Pitstop.
The Garda Press Office confirmed reports in yesterday's Sunday Business Post that three people, including a member of the force, had been arrested as part of the investigation.
A garda was arrested while on duty at Garda headquarters in the Phoenix Park at about 9 a.m. last Wednesday. He was questioned at Store Street Garda station on allegations of conspiracy and false pretences and released later that day.
Two civilians were also arrested, one on Tuesday last week and the other earlier this month. They were also questioned on alleged conspiracy and false pretences, also at Store Street, and released on the day of their arrest.
A Garda spokesman said a file was being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. Asked whether more garda∅ were likely to be arrested as part of the investigation he said: "We certainly couldn't rule it out".
The investigation, headed by Chief Supt Michael McCarthy of the Traffic Bureau in Dublin Castle, has been under way since February when the Sunday Business Post reported liaisons between Advance Pitstop and some garda∅.
It is understood the company won a £600,000 contract with the Garda despite being the most expensive of a list of seven which had tendered for the contract.
Reports said the company had taken senior garda∅ on golfing trips to Britain and the Continent between 1997 and October 2000.
Garda∅ were also taken, said the report, to Old Trafford to watch Manchester United play and to see the set of Coronation Street in Manchester. This first trip is understood to have been given to senior garda∅, two months before Advance Pitstop won the contract.
Further investigations were also undertaken by the Department of Justice and Law Reform, the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Public Offices Commission.
