Laurence MacKenzie resigned from his role as head of NI Water last week.
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The former head of NI Water was convicted of embezzling £2,000 from a church in his native Scotland in 1982.
Laurence MacKenzie resigned last week after NI Water was severely criticised for its handling of the water crisis.
The details emerged after SDLP MP Alisdair McDonnell asked Environment Minister Conor Murphy to confirm whether he had prior knowledge of his spent criminal conviction.
NI Water have refused to comment.
Mr Murphy has yet to comment on the issue but a Department for Regional Development spokesperson said:
“The Minister was not aware of this issue until it broke in the media today. He is advised by NI Water, as the employer, that it is currently looking into the matter.”
It emerged that Mr MacKenzie stole from his congregation while a treasurer in a Church of Scotland church in Caithness in the north of the country.
Subsequent to his conviction, Mr MacKenzie studied accountancy at the University of Abertay before a career in privatised utilities eventually saw him in charge at Northern Ireland Electricity and most recently NI Water.
Last March Mr MacKenzie stood in judgement of four NI Water directors whom he insisted were sacked over issues connected with the awarding of contracts.
Forty thousand homes and businesses were cut off from the mains during the recent crisis which happened after a rapid thaw caused pipes to burst across Northern Ireland.
NI Water was heavily criticised for its response, answering only a small proportion of the public’s requests for help.
Following his resignation, Mr MacKenzie said his staff had made “tremendous efforts” but added that he “believed firmly in the principles of responsibility and accountability”.
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Blanchard was guilty of “breathtaking depravity”, the judge told him
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The leader of a paedophile ring which sexually abused young children and shared the images has been jailed.
Colin Blanchard, 40, of Rochdale, admitted a string of sex offences. He received an indeterminate sentence, and must spend at least nine years in jail.
Two women were also sentenced. Tracy Lyons, 41, of Portsmouth was jailed for seven years and Tracy Dawber, 44, of Southport, was jailed for four years.
Plymouth nursery worker Vanessa George, 40, was jailed in 2009.
She received an indeterminate sentence, as did the fifth member of the ring, 40-year-old Angela Allen, of Nottingham. They were given minimum terms of seven years and five years respectively.
Mr Justice Royce, sitting at Bristol Crown Court, said Blanchard was guilty of “breathtaking depravity”, and described him as “warped, wicked, dangerous and devious”.
Det Con Andrew Piling said the case was disturbing and unique
Prosecutors described all the defendants as being involved in “one of the most sickening paedophile rings this country has seen”.
Blanchard, a father-of-one, met the women over the internet and convinced them to sexually assault young children and send him the images.
The ring was broken when a colleague of Blanchard found child sex abuse images on his computer in June 2009 and called police.
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Peter Robinson described the threats to the Celtic players as “vile sectarian behaviour”.
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The NI First Minister has condemned those who sent bullets in the post to Celtic manager Neil Lennon and player Niall McGinn.
The packages, addressed to the two men at their club, were posted in NI but intercepted at a sorting office.
Peter Robinson said those behind the threats were guilty of “vile sectarian behaviour”.
Celtic have not formally commented on the bullet threats but Mr Lennon tweeted that they were “stupidity”.
The First Minister also condemned pipe bomb attacks in north Antrim over the weekend as “dastardly efforts of evil people”.
A community centre on Crosskeys Road in Ballymena, as well as a GAA club in Portglenone and a primary school in Ahoghill were targeted over the past two days.
Mr Robinson said: “All right thinking people from throughout the community will utterly condemn those who posted bullets to Neil Lennon and Niall McGinn.
“I strongly urge anyone with information about the identity of those responsible for this disgraceful incident to come forward and share that information with the police.”
Neil Lennon, a former Celtic captain and Northern Ireland international, has received death threats in the past.
He was forced to withdraw from Northern Ireland’s game against Cyprus in 2002 after a reported death threat from a paramilitary group.
In 2008, he was treated in hospital after being assaulted in Glasgow.
Northern Ireland international Niall McGinn transferred from Derry City to Celtic in 2009.
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Sanam Navsarka died in May 2008 after a long period of suffering
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A social worker has admitted ignoring warnings that a two-year-old girl was being abused, a week before the toddler was murdered by her mother’s partner.
Sanam Navsarka, of Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, died on 8 May 2008 after suffering more than 100 injuries.
Judyth Kenworthy, a former family placement officer at Kirklees Council, admitted failing to pass on warnings she had received from a carer in 2008.
She is accused of misconduct by the General Social Care Council.
Ms Kenworthy admitted failing to inform her manager, a social worker or Kirklees Council’s duty and assessment team that Sanam was being physically abused.
She also agreed that, as a result of her actions, no measures were taken to safeguard Sanam and admitted withholding information when she gave a statement to police.
Sanam’s mother Zahbeena Navsarka was jailed for manslaughter and Subhan Anmwar for murder
But Ms Kenworthy denies the allegation that the carer warned her that Sanam had been locked in a cupboard.
In 2009, Bradford Crown Court heard Sanam was beaten over four weeks and died in severe pain, with fractures to all her limbs. A metal pole was used to shatter one of her legs.
Her hand prints and bloodstains were found inside cupboards, where she had been put as a punishment.
In 2009 Subhan Anmwar, 21, was jailed for life with a minimum term of 23 years for her murder, while her mother Zahbeena Navsarka, 21, was jailed for nine years for manslaughter.
The hearing into Ms Kenworthy’s conduct continues.
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Bullitt features a famous car chase scene with Steve McQueen, pictured left
British film-maker Peter Yates, who directed such movies as Bullitt and Summer Holliday, has died aged 81.
According to his agent, he died in London on Sunday after an illness.
Bullitt, released in 1968, featured a famous chase scene in which Steve McQueen drove a Ford Mustang through San Francisco.
Yates was nominated for the best director Oscar in 1980 for Breaking Away, and again in 1984 for The Dresser.
He is survived by his wife Virginia Pope, a son and a daughter.
The family will hold a private funeral, his agent Judy Daish continued.
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Ed Miliband defends his shadow chancellor
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Labour leader Ed Miliband has defended shadow chancellor Alan Johnson after he appeared not to know the rate of National Insurance paid by employers.
On Sunday, Mr Johnson said the rate stood at 20% – it is in fact 12.8%.
At his monthly press conference the Labour leader said he would accept Mr Johnson’s judgement over Chancellor George Osborne’s “any day of the week”.
Mr Miliband also called for higher taxes on bank bonuses – but the government played down the idea.
On Sky News on Sunday Mr Johnson said the “secondary class one-rate [National Insurance contributions] for employers” would have gone up 1% to 21% had Labour won the general election.
But he was later reminded that the current rate was 12.8%.
Asked at the press conference whether this threw into question the ability and judgement of the shadow chancellor, Mr Miliband said: “Alan clearly knows about these things.”
He added: “It’s the big things that matter in politics. The things that matter are your instincts and why we stand up for your judgements.
“I take his judgements over George Osborne’s any day.”
Mr Miliband said: “We are seeing from this government a casual attitude to the rise in living costs…
“If David Cameron is really concerned about jobs, he should do more to address a lost generation of young people.”
During the event in central London, also attended by Mr Johnson, Mr Miliband also urged the coalition government to tax bank bonuses more heavily.
He added that Labour’s one-off measure before it lost power had raised £3.5bn and that its Conservative-Liberal Democrat replacement levy would make £1.25bn. Mr Miliband described this as an effective “tax cut”.
However, the prime minister’s spokesman has played down the prospect of another tax on bank bonuses, saying the levy was intended to raise £2.5bn a year and was permanent.
He pointed out that Labour’s bank bonus tax was a “one-off” and repeating that kind of measure tended to generate payment avoidance.
At his press conference, Mr Miliband leader also defended his party’s financial record in government, saying it had been “within acceptable limits”, as a proportion of national income, before the global economic crisis hit.
He repeated his criticism of the coalition that it was cutting “too far, too fast”, which could damage economic growth.
Mr Miliband added that he and Mr Johnson agreed that the 50p income tax rate for top earners “should stay for this parliament and it is very unlikely that our priority after the next general election would be to cut the 50p tax rate”.
He said: “There are lots of other priorities that will take precedence.”
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Mr Obama has asked the nation to come together in prayer
The US is mourning the deaths of six people in a shooting in Arizona on Saturday which left a congresswoman seriously wounded.
Flags across the country will fly at half mast, and President Barack Obama will lead a minute’s silence.
The man charged with the attack, Jared Loughner, is to appear in court later. He could face the death penalty.
The congresswoman, Gabrielle Giffords, was shot in the head and is critical but responding to simple commands.
She had been holding an open-invitation meeting with constituents outside a supermarket in Tucson when a man holding a gun approached and opened fire.
Ms Giffords, 40, was shot from close range by the gunman, who then began shooting into the crowd.
Among the dead were a nine-year-old girl and a federal judge. A total of 14 people were injured, in addition to the six who were killed.
The girl, Christina Taylor Green, was born on 9/11 and featured in a book Fifty Faces of Hope about some of the children born on that day.
Eyewitness Patricia Maisch: “Somebody said get the gun”
A minute of silence will be held at 1100 Washington time (1600 GMT), led by President Obama from the South Lawn of the White House.
“It will be a time for us to come together as a nation in prayer or reflection, keeping the victims and their families closely at heart,” he said in a statement on Sunday.
House of Representatives Speak John Boehner called on fellow legislators to “stand together” and “rally round our wounded colleague”.
Suspect: Jared LoughnerAged 22; lived with parents in TucsonDescribed by former class-mates as “disruptive” drug user and a lonerReportedly posted rambling web messages complaining of “mind control”Attempted to enlist in US Army but was rejected
Profile: Jared LoughnerThe House has postponed all legislative debates next week, including a controversial bill to repeal Mr Obama’s healthcare reform.
But some commentators and politicians have blamed violent rhetoric and hatred conveyed in the media for the shooting.
“People think now if they want to make a statement, they can do that by bringing bodily harm to someone who doesn’t agree with them,” Democratic Representative Ed Pastor said on CNN.
Analysis
Almost as soon as the news of the shootings came out, some in Washington – and many on Twitter and on blogs – were pondering a link between the anger and polarisation apparent in today’s American polity and the attempted assassination of a Democratic congresswoman in a state with highly charged politics.
But few in Tucson seem as sure.
After one of the many vigils that cropped up in the city after the shooting, lawyer Tom Aguilera, 49, stood in the sunshine of a colonnaded courtyard, dwarfed by the office blocks of downtown.
He said he did think of politics, and of the charged nature of American political life, immediately after he heard of the shootings. But he dismissed it.
Others at the vigil agree: they may be dismayed by the anger and virulence of political discourse in America, but they do not connect it with the shootings.
Mr Loughner will appear in court in Phoenix at 1400 local time (2100 GMT).
He has been charged with:
Attempting to assassinate Ms GiffordsKilling two government officials, federal judge John Roll and Gabe Zimmerman, an aide of Ms GiffordsAttempting to kill two more government officials
State authorities are expected to bring charges against him later for attacking non-government employees.
Investigators searching Mr Loughner’s home said they had found evidence that the attack was premeditated.
They found an envelope with messages saying “I planned ahead”, “my assassination”, and the name Giffords.
Describing the attack, local Sheriff Clarence Dupnik said a potentially worse tragedy had been averted.
A woman tackled the gunman as he tried to reload, snatching a magazine of bullets, he said.
He managed to reload with another magazine, but the gun malfunctioned and two men then restrained him.
Various former classmates have described Mr Loughner as “obviously disturbed”.
One of them, Lynda Sorenson, feared he might become violent.
“We do have one student in the class who was disruptive today,” she wrote in an e-mail quoted by the Washington Post.
“He scares me a bit… Hopefully he will be out of class very soon, and not come back with an automatic weapon.”
He was said to be a loner who had posted a number of anti-government videos and messages on social-networking websites.
Shortly before the attack, he had posted: “Goodbye friends. Dear friends, don’t be mad at me.”
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