WHEN Arlene Foster stood beside convicted armed robber Dee Stitt to announce £1.7m in funding for Charter NI, she knew what his background was.
That alone does not make the decision to award the east Belfast group such a huge sum of money a bad one. Groups employing ex-prisoners are publicly funded across Northern Ireland and some have done outstanding work in helping re-shape deprived communities.
However, since Stitt decided to showboat to a Guardian journalist about being the "big man" in his area, his position as chief executive has caused nothing but embarrassment for the DUP who previously endorsed Charter NI at every turn.
The funding from the Social Investment Fund had to be approved by the Executive Office and that means it was also signed off by Martin McGuinness.
It is a sign of the ongoing non-aggression pact in the Executive that Sinn Féin has remained silent about the controversy, leaving it instead to the opposition parties to raise concerns.
The increasingly erratic behaviour of the north Down loyalist, who is now refusing to go quietly, shows just how little control Stormont has over the groups it throws millions of pounds of taxpayers' money at.
Charter NI is backing its man but that does not bode well for the organisation, because despite what Stitt might want, this is not an issue that is just going to go away.
While he continues to wear the hats of both Charter NI chief executive and UDA commander there will always be questions about awarding public money to the community group.
