Failing firm spent big on luxuries as it sought government funding: N.B. auditor
FREDERICTON — Taxpayers were left on the hook for close to $70 million while top executives of the failing Atcon group of companies were spending money on luxury items including vacation property in Aruba, New Brunswick’s auditor general says.
“A company that is in such severe financial crisis, coming to the province looking for funding, you just wouldn’t expect to see such extravagance,” Kim MacPherson said Tuesday.
She says a $50-million loan given to Atcon in 2010 by the former Liberal government of Shawn Graham was never going to be enough to save the Miramichi-based construction and manufacturing company from eventual failure.
MacPherson released her second report into the failure Tuesday, with an attempt to answer where the money went.