Irish Life has initiated civil proceedings for damages against a former member of its sales staff sacked recently following allegations of fraud. The amount involved is "in excess of £100,000", according to the company.

The case has also been referred to the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation. The salesman operated in the Cork area and is alleged to have fraudulently encashed customer policies and to have withheld money from the company. He was sacked in recent weeks for "inappropriate behaviour".

A spokesman for Irish Life said the alleged fraud had been against the company and not against its customers. The salesman's customer base had been contacted to make sure no-one had been disadvantaged as a result of the man's behaviour.

An investigation by the company of the customers' affairs had found irregularities in a small number of cases and these had now been corrected, he said.

Meanwhile, in the case of the unrelated allegation that Irish Life sales staff have been involved in mis-selling insurance policies, two officials from the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment are continuing to examine company files in relation to the practice.

It is not known how long the officials will be examining the company's books but "full co-operation" is being given to the officials, the spokesman said.

The inquiry is into the issue of "churning" or the selling by sales staff of new insurance products to customers which the customers might not need, but which would create commission for the sales staff.

A spokesman said the issue was the extent to which the company had procedures in place to guard against the practice and whether it had acted to put a stop to the practice whenever it was discovered.

The company has dismissed as "simply untrue" allegations that management knew of sales practices through which customers lost money, and did not put a stop to them.