Stud chief claims €67k in expenses

AN internal Irish National Stud audit found its former chief executive John Clarke accounted for 60% of the total staff travel expenses bill for most of 2008.

The audit said 23% of these expenses did not have supporting receipts and of the 77% which did 32% only had credit card slips instead of detailed breakdowns.

The auditors, Kealy Mehigan, looked at €111,865 incurred by its 43 full-time and 35 temporary staff over a 10-month period in 2008. Mr Clarke’s credit card accounted for €61,546 of this and a further €5,278 arose from other travel expenses from his work.