AN AUDIT of accounts used by units of the reserve defence forces has led to three separate fraud probes by the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation.

Irregularities in the accounts were discovered during a major review by the internal audit unit of the Department of Defence.

In every case, it appeared as if 'false accounting' was taking place, most often involving fake invoices that were being used to justify bogus payments to suppliers.

The money was being taken from unit fund accounts that were used by reserve defence force groups to pay for day-to-day expenses.

Two investigations into a battalion in Sligo and another reserve group in Galway are currently underway, the department said.

Another case has already been dealt with. It involved a reserve unit in Cork, where more than €3,800 worth of suspicious invoices were discovered.

The Department of Defence said a file had been sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) but that he had decided there would be no prosecution in the case.

The unit accounts were subject to audit as part of a major exercise by the department's internal auditors in the period between December 2006 and March 2009.

The inquiries began only after one of the reserve units involved submitted a fraudulent invoice for payment in late November 2006.

A statement said: "In each of the three cases referred to, the audit finding was that a system of false accounting was being operated in the accounts in question.

"[This arose] principally from certain invoices, which were not bona fide invoices from the suppliers in question, being used to substantiate payments from the Unit Fund Account."

The Department of Defence said a file had been submitted to the DPP in relation to the 58th Res Infantry Battalion of Sligo in September 2009. It said a decision by the DPP was pending and that it could make no further comment.

A separate case involving the 54th Res Engineering Company in Galway was investigated, with an audit report being passed to gardaí in September of last year.

The department said: "The Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation... is currently considering the matter. As this case is ongoing, [we] do not wish to comment further on it at present.

"By way of general comment, the department points out that these irregularities relate to the period pre 2007."