Official sacked after probe

Official sacked after probe

Invoices for business trips to America were not accounted for

A civil servant has been dismissed following a government investigation into a company designed to bring business to the west of Northern Ireland.

An auditor's report into the company - called "Into the West" says there were very poor standards of administration involving considerable sums of public money.

Into the West was set up in 1997 with the aim of establishing better business links between the western region and other parts of the world.

The company was funded by £1.5m from the five western councils, the International Fund and the former small business agency, Ledu.

It was largely run by Joe Doherty - Ledu's western area manager, who it is understood, has now been dismissed.

Ledu and the Industrial Development Board, which was responsible for inward investment, were replaced by a single umbrella agency, Invest Northern Ireland last year.

Many of the accountability requirements which are vital where public money is involved were absent.

Ian Pearson
NIO finance minister

Representatives of Into the West made many overseas trips, with much of the spending paid for by credit card.

The report says that the company's board did not have proper procedures for using those cards and that invoices and receipts were not provided for a significant proportion of the expenditure.

It also says the board did not have policies on corporate hospitality and travel expenses - and £20,000 could have been saved using public sector rates for expenses.

Cash withdrawals amounting to more than £5,000 remain to be accounted for by Mr Doherty, the report says.

Mr Doherty said he would not be making any comment about the report.

Commenting on the report, Enterprise Minister Ian Pearson said the board had failed in its remit and that lessons would be learned.

"It is clear that there were deficiencies in basic control mechanisms and that many of the accountability requirements which are vital where public money is involved were absent. This is deeply regrettable.

"We have taken decisive action, including a review of similar projects to ensure that such breaches in control and monitoring cannot recur."

Alliance Party assembly member Seamus Close said it was time measures were taken to prevent further abuse of public funds.

"I am convinced that with these latest allegations the public will be demanding that an example must be made," he said.

"However action must be taken from the top down in the department. You can only change the culture of laxity by addressing the problem from the top down."

SDLP member of the assembly's Public Accounts Committee John Dallat said he was appalled to learn of the abuse of credit cards by the company.

"Light needs to be shone on this matter. We need to establish why abuse on this scale went undetected for so long," he said.

"Public servants need to realise that the money they are spending is the public's money - not their own, and that they will be under greater scrutiny than even before."