INVOICES FALSE

Press, Volume C, Issue 29557, 5 July 1961, Page 14

INVOICES FALSE

Claiming Of Subsidy (N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON. July 4. An instance of the use of false invoices to secure a National Roads Board subsidy which had not been earned came to light during the year, says (he annual , report of the Controller and Auditor-General <Mr A. D Burns) tabled in the House of Representatives today. The report said that a county engineer, finding that , his council's allocation of subsidy for the year had not . been fully used, arranged ■ with a contractor to submit invoices for work of a value of £2356 which had not been performed. A subsidy of £1961 was wrongly claimed and received. Work sufficient to earn the subsidy was carried out over the first five months of the next financial year. The engineer did not receive any personal gain and on legal advice he was not prosecuted, the Auditor-General said. “The National Roads Board and the Audit Office place considerable reliance on the certificates of responsible officers of the local authorities as to the actual performance of subsidised works and it was disturbing to learn of the false certificate “The board took the matter up with the Counties' Association and the Munici- . pal Association and both these bodies circularised their members emphasising that irregular actions would weaken confidence at present placed in them. The alternative if such confidence cannot be maintained would be the resumption by the Ministry of Works of physical inspec'ion of jobs claimed to have been completed," the report says.