The Northern Ireland Assembly's public accounts watchdog will call the permanent secretary of the Department of Enterprise to give evidence at an inquiry into internal fraud at LEDU, the small business agency.

Mr Bruce Robinson, LEDU accounting officer, will face questions from the Public Accounts Committee on why a series of frauds, amounting to more than £158,000 sterling (€257,000), went undetected during 1995-1998.

Mr Robinson, one of the North's most senior civil servants, will assume the role of accounting officer for Invest Northern Ireland, the North's umbrella economic development agency, in April.

The Public Accounts Committee inquiry should begin at the end of this month.

Committee chairman Mr Billy Bell, said: "We will hold senior officials within Northern Ireland's departments and agencies directly accountable for the spending decisions they take.

"We will ensure that, where we deem it necessary, our recommendations will be implemented in order to improve the services they provide to the public. We are here to ensure that value for money is achieved."

The inquiry will revolve around four frauds perpetrated by two former LEDU employees, who are referred to in a report by the Auditor General for Northern Ireland as Ms Atwell and Mr Gribben. Ms Atwell diverted £118,000 of public money into her personal bank account, which was discovered, and reported by Mr Gribben, who was LEDU's assistant accountant.

Deloitte & Touche, LEDU's auditors, were called in to conduct an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the fraud and to identify procedures in order to prevent it from happening again.

Just months after Deloitte & Touche issued its report, Mr Gribben was also involved in fraudulent activity. In total, he misappropriated £21,833 sterling and Ir£22,500 (€28,500) in a series of travel frauds. Following legal proceedings Ms Atwell was sentenced to two years in prison, while Mr Gribben was sentenced to 12 months last July.