Unionist official in inquiry bailed

Alastair Patterson is a former deputy election returning officer

A senior Ulster Unionist Party official questioned by the police about alleged irregularities in the Electoral Office has been released on bail.

UUP chief executive and former deputy Electoral Officer Alastair Patterson, and another man, were arrested on Monday.

The pair have been released on police bail pending further enquiries, and will return at a later date.

They were questioned about allegations of corruption within the Electorial Office.

Both are former employees of the Electoral Office and were questioned about allegations of forgery, false accounting and corruption between 1996 and 2001.

The investigation is centred on activities in the west of Northern Ireland.

Mr Patterson was the returning officer who declared hunger striker Bobby Sands' victory in the Fermanagh-South Tyrone election in 1981.

Earlier this month, he was one of the Ulster Unionists to attend a hearing at the High Court in Belfast to defend disciplinary action taken against three of its MPs.

Jeffrey Donaldson, Martin Smyth and David Burnside resigned the party whip at Westminster.