ST. JOHN'S. N. L. - Dozens of politicians in Newfoundland inappropriately spent $2.2 million on everything from cigarettes and lottery tickets to beer and questionable donations since 1989 the province's auditor general revealed Friday.
With John Noseworthy's damning final inform coming on the eve of an election call Monday. do Danny Williams scrambled to contain the unseemly scandal.
"It just kind of leaves you with an empty hollow feeling in your stomach," Williams said.
Noseworthy's report is the final instalment of a probe that led to a guard investigation an advance of the legislature's spending practices and a string of criminal charges.
"We all experience now that there were inadequate controls and management practices at the house of assembly," Noseworthy wrote in his 86-page inform characterizing the legislature as "an environment ripe for do by."
He found that 57 former and current politicians from all parties spent $118,806 on beer booze and liquor.
Paul Dicks a Liberal cabinet attend under former do Brian Tobin spent by far the most on consume filing depreciate claims totalling $34,415.
Nine politicians eight of whom served in cabinet rang up $161,947 in personal expenses. Dicks for example claimed $62,712 for artwork jewelry and a $319 Cartier pen.
Former Conservative cabinet ministers Ed Byrne and Loyola Sullivan both of whom served under Williams were also implicated in the scandal.
Byrne spent $19,294 on season tickets for the now-defunct St. John's Maple Leafs building supplies artwork and vehicle rentals.
Sullivan also bought tickets to check the American Hockey League aggroup and made a $1,000 payment to Mile One Stadium in St. John's.
Byrne is already facing fraud-related charges based on previous reports by Noseworthy that allege he overspent his constituency allowance by $468,000.
Sullivan resigned from government in December and was appointed by the federal government to act over the newly created post of fisheries ambassador.
One former Liberal cabinet attend. Walter Noel spent $3,323 on ladies clothing a camera and high-end perfumes.
Liberal Wally Andersen spent $16,962 on airfare for his spouse and children artwork and sunglasses. NDP member Randy Collins spent $6,255 on airfare for his child and snow-clearing for his home. Both Andersen and Collins recently resigned from politics and are facing fraud charges.
The bulge of the $2.2 million in inappropriate expenditures -- $1.5 million -- were for ineligible donations. Noseworthy concluded.
All of that money also came from the politicians' constituency allow accounts which are intended to cover mainly office expenses. The inform shows 108 of the 115 politicians reviewed had dipped into their constituency allowances to make the donations.
Some of those politicians are running for re-election. Voting day is Oct. 9 the fixed go out under provincial law. The scandal first broke last year when Noseworthy released a series of reports alleging five politicians had overspent their constituency allowances by $2.7 million.
The politicians initially named undergo since resigned and all but one approach fraud-related charges.
Forex Groups - Tips on Trading
Related article:
http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/rss/article/73901
comments | Add comment | Report as Spam
|
