Audit report takes Northern Ireland Tourist Board to task on inappropriate spending

The Northern Ireland Tourist Board has been heavily criticised by the North's public accounts watchdog for allowing a senior member of staff to run up an unauthorised credit-card bill of nearly £25,000 sterling (€40,990) in New York.

"Inappropriate" expenditure at home and overseas is one of the major criticisms levelled at the Tourist Board in a damning investigation by the Northern Ireland Audit Office which exposes a trail of lavish hospitality bills. The Tourist Board's New York office was one of the worst offenders according to the Audit Office which investigated how the manager of the office had charged £25,000 to a corporate credit card in the financial year to March 2000. The Audit Office noted there were insufficient invoices to support the total credit card bill and that these included miscellaneous charges for hotel movies, cigarettes and "spa services".

"The manager did not provide detailed back-up documentation to head office to support these expenses when they were incurred and when the supporting documentation was submitted, in July 2001, it was incomplete," the public accounts watchdog added.

The report also highlights that senior management within the Northern Ireland Tourist Board had already raised concerns about the company credit card and had instructed its New York office to stop using it when the expenses occurred.

Mr John Dowdall, comptroller of the Audit Office, said he recognised that hospitality costs overseas, particularly in New York, would be higher than what would be regarded as the norm within Northern Ireland. But he remained concerned that "some spending on hospitality in New York was at an inappropriate level for a public body, particularly in relation to expenditure on alcohol and meals in prestige restaurants".

The new Audit Office report, which is likely to be a major source of embarrassment to the Tourist Board, details in considerable depth what it terms "unacceptable expenses". Examples of these included a £5,000 leaving reception in 1999 at the Aurora Grill in New York for Mr Ian Henderson, who at that time was the chief executive of the Tourist Board. A lunch bill for four people at the Hotel Bel Air came to a total of £470 plus a tip of £55.

The Northern Ireland Tourist Board has conceded that spending in some instances was "excessive and inappropriate and made in contravention of its own financial procedures". Hospitality bills aside, the Audit Office was also highly critical of a series of payments made by the Tourist Board to former and current members of staff.

These included a £60,000 payment to Mr Mark Alexander, the former deputy chief executive of the Northern Ireland Tourist Board, to buy out his contract and a £4,000 payment to recruitment consultants to help him find another job.

The Audit Office report also highlighted that Mr Henderson, the former chief executive, was awarded £34,000 of consultancy work, which was not put out to public tender in line with procedures.