A MAJOR Garda investigation is under way into a car insurance fraud network which appears to have earned participants Pounds 2 million over the last four years.
A small number of gardai and insurance assessors - who examine damaged vehicles for insurance companies - are suspected of involvement, along with a building society manager. One garda has already been questioned by investigating officers.
The fraud network, which operated mainly in the midlands, involved regular large claims on insurance companies for reported traffic accidents which do not appear to have taken place.
It is understood that the activities of four insurance assessors are being examined, along with records of accidents reported by some gardai.
Investigating officers suspect collusion between the gardai and assessors in assembling the paper-work needed to extract payment from the insurance companies.
The records of payments from the insurance companies indicate that the participants received more than Pounds 2 million over four years.
One source said the fraud was "amazingly simple" and detectives were astounded by the amounts paid by the insurance companies.
The scheme is being investigated by detectives from the Longford/ Westmeath and Sligo/Leitrim divisions, along with detectives from the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation in Dublin.
The investigation, under way for some weeks, may lead to charges against some gardai and insurance assessors.
Last December the Irish Insurance Federation reported a sharp increase in the number of suspected fraudulent claims. It said 563 cases were under investigation, compared to less than half that number two years earlier.
However, the level of fraud found by detectives investigating the midlands network suggests only a small proportion of fraudulent claims are being detected by insurance companies.
Last month, in a separate case, a Dublin man pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to organising false car accident injury claims which cost insurance companies almost Pounds 200,000.
In May gardai investigated a claim for compensation by a garda who said his patrol car had been struck from behind by another vehicle. An investigation began after examination of the damage to the car suggested it had been reversed into a wall.
Meanwhile, the Garda Commissioner will tomorrow announce a National Traffic Policy Bureau, which will aim at finding ways to reduce the number of accidents.