Fermanagh south Tyrone MLA Phil Flanagan said that a Sunday newspaper's reporting of his suspension from his former job as manager of an Enniskillen store during a financial investigation was a "non-story".

The Garrison MLA and the party's consumer affairs spokesman was reacting to the Sunday Life story that claimed he quit his job as manager of Carphone Warehouse before an internal disciplinary hearing took place into a £2,000 petty cash expenditure. Mr. Flanagan told the newspaper that the money was spent on teas and coffees for staff. He categorically denied any wrongdoing.

The Sunday Life reports he was manager for 11 months, starting the job in August 2007. He told the newspaper: "In mid-summer 2008 Loss Prevention did an internal audit in every single store throughout the company. When they came down to Erneside they noticed a higher than normal expenditure I suppose. It was out of sync with the majority of other stores. The expenditure was on petty cash and the majority of that on tea and coffee". He said that when he became store manager a procedure was already in place to allow staff to use petty cash to buy tea and coffee in the morning as there wasn't a kitchen facility at the store.

It says that he was off sick in the summer of 2008 and when he returned to the store, he was suspended. Mr. Flanagan left the job to set up his own mobile phone company.

Reacting to the story this week from Stormont, he said: "At the end of the day, it is a non-story. That is my opinion. It is tabloid journalism at its best". He said there has "not really been a reaction" to it. Senior party members had already been aware of the issue.

As well as being having a role in the education and enterprise committees at Stormont, he is now consumer affairs spokesman for Sinn Fein. On Tuesday, he issued a warning to people to regularly check their bank accounts after his account was hacked into.

There were three transactions he had not made and a further attempt to pay for goods at the Apple store for £450. The bank was "very quick" to pick up the problem.

"I would encourage people to regularly check their bank accounts, especially those with on-line accounts to ensure that they have not been hacked into. I regularly check my account and found that someone had hacked into it and attempted to make several online purchases without my permission.

"Fortunately, I did not have much money in the account and my bank picked up on the transactions very quickly. They immediately moved to secure the account and I would like to thank them for their swift action.

"If people do find any irregularity with their account they should immediately contact their bank and if there has been an illegal attempt to enter an account should also contact the PSNI".