Expenses probe will cost £129,000

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An investigation of expenses claims by officials promoting Welsh business abroad is to cost £129,000.

The review, by auditors KPMG, followed revelations in July that officials flew first class and charged nearly £750,000 to corporate credit cards in a year.

The Tories said they were "astonished" at the cost of the probe when only a "short, sharp review" was needed.

Ministers said the review had to be "independent and comprehensive" and provide "absolute transparency".

First Minister Rhodri Morgan said he expected to be able to publish the review's findings "in the near future".

Mr Morgan apologised in July for describing a Liberal Democrat claim civil servants at International Business Wales (IBW) enjoyed "first class" and "jet set" lifestyles as "repugnant" and an "outright lie".

He had made the statement based on assurances he had been given that no IBW officials had travelled first class.

But it soon emerged that at least two staff from the New York office had done so on internal flights in the United States.

After apologising for misleading Welsh Lib Dem leader Kirsty Williams and the public, Mr Morgan announced an "immediate and thorough review and audit of the IBW's expenditure and audit systems".

He pledged the investigation would be "led from outside the assembly government".

The Welsh Conservatives are now attacking the £129,000 cost of that review, revealed in a written answer to their leader Nick Bourne.

In the answer, Mr Morgan said KPMG had been selected to carry out the review "following a competitive tendering exercise".

First class warning

Mr Bourne said he was "astonished" Mr Morgan was spending a "six figure sum" to "review spending in one of his own government departments".

"This is typical of the assembly government - mounting an expensive investigation into why one of its own departments is spending so much," Mr Bourne said.

"A short, sharp review into the affairs of International Business Wales was all that was needed.

"I note the audit costs do not include travel expenses and very much hope there are no claims for first class travel submitted," he added.

An assembly government spokesperson said: "The appointment of KPMG followed a competitive tender exercise and (was) fully in line with the Office of Government Commerce arrangements.

"Given the important role carried out by International Business Wales, and following the concerns raised over items of expenditure by IBW staff, KPMG - one of the UK's leading providers of professional audit services - was engaged to carry out a thorough investigation of a forensic nature into the expenditure and audit systems of the organisation.

"It is essential that this review is both independent and comprehensive, and will provide absolute transparency and clarity on all of the issues raised."