Willie Frazer | EU wants funding returned by two unionist victims groups

Willie Frazer

BY MARK MOLONEY

UNIONIST VICTIMS campaigner Willie Frazer is in hot water this week after the Special EU Programme which dispenses European peace funds, demanded that Frazer return more than £350,000, which was donated to his FAIR organisation, claiming the funding was misspent.

Frazer has said he would “go to jail” before giving the money back.

This is the third investigation carried out into the financial activities of the Armagh-based unionist victims group Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR). The first investigation by the PSNI has been completed and the Public Prosecution Service has said there will be no charges. However, the EU investigation, which relates to two different initiatives carried out by FAIR, could end in a civil lawsuit to recover the public monies.

One of the intiatives being investigated reportedly involved using victims funds to pay for staff, carers and others to attend group excursions, cinema trips, coffee mornings and meals out together. The EU says more than 280 people benefited from this and more than £156,000 was spent on it.

The second scheme involved Frazer filming the families of victims and recording their stories. The EU has demanded £190,000 be returned for that project.

In September 2010, FAIR had £800,000 in funding from the Special European Union Programmes Body (SEUPB) revoked  following "major failures" by the group.

The SEUPB said then:

The SEUPB is charged with ensuring the proper use of public money and as such has no option but to revoke all financial assistance (amounting to approximately £880,000) that has been offered to the organisation . . . FAIR has been given every opportunity to respond to and address these issues. The decision to revoke and recover all financial assistance given to the project has not been taken lightly, however, given the seriousness of the issues no other recourse is available.

Meanwhile, the North's Office of First Minister and Deputy First Minister (OFMDFM) is investigating the purchase of the FAIR office at Markethill and whether FAIR provided enough evidence that the purchase met conditions of funding.

Questions have also been raised in relation to an election broadcast produced by Willie Frazer when he stood unsuccesfully for the Westminster election last year. The video was uploaded by the FAIR Media YouTube channel. The use of victims' funds for political ends is a breach of funding rules.

The other unionist victims group also under investigation is Saver/Naver, again based in south Armagh, with the EU demanding it return more than £200,000. The group, which had previously been described as a “model victims group” and whose chairperson Reatha Hassan was awarded an Order of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth, was investigated by BBC Spotlight earlier this year after allegations of widespread financial fraud.

The Spotlight programme produced evidence of fraud which included the faking of cheques and invoices to draw down public money. A whistleblower also claimed the group had been involved in fraud relating to a PSNI grant. The group has denied the allegations.

The activities of a third unionist victims group based in Tyrone are also under investigation.