IN a move that turns up the heat on the board of the troubled St Joseph’s aviation credit union, the Registrar for Credit Unions has appointed a former head of the Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation to examine the affairs of the organisation.

Patrick D’Arcy, the senior manager of forensic services at Robson Rhodes, has begun interviewing directors of the credit union as part of a process designed to settle a bitter internecine dispute that has split the board for several years.

Brendan Logue, the registrar, is understood to have given D’Arcy and his team a wide brief, including the power to investigate perceived conflicts of interest on the part of some directors over their involvement in other enterprises, the aviation co-op and the failed Value Homes project.

“This step follows a prolonged process aimed at resolving internal disputes on the board,” said the Financial Regulator. “The registrar arranged . . . for an arbitration process . . . but some of the parties declined to participate and it became necessary to take this course of action.”

Logue served papers on the board and management of the credit union, one of the country’s biggest with about 18,000 members and €120m in funds, ordering them to hand over any documentation demanded by Robson Rhodes, which is the Irish arm of RSM International, one of the top global auditing and financial advisory firms.

“I authorise Robson Rhodes to inspect and take copies of or extracts from any books or documents relating to St Joseph’s aviation credit union or any body (whether a credit union or not and whether corporate or unincorporated) which is or has at any relevant time been associated with the above-mentioned credit union,” wrote Logue.

The latest move, which sources close to the board hope will bring the situation to a head, follows the resignation of John Power in February, the second president of the credit union to resign in just eight months. Power gave similar reasons for stepping down as his predecessor Patrick Curry, who had cited “an inability to defend the indefensible”.

In 2003, the regulator found that three credit union directors had a perceived serious conflict of interest after they solicited €1m in funding from the organisation for Value Homes, a failed affordable housing project. The loan applications were rejected. The three resigned but were subsequently re-elected to the credit union board.

The credit union will foot the bill for the investigation.