New receipt made for mayor

SHANE WENZLICK

UNDER FIRE: Mayor Len Brown has used scissors to cut up his council credit card.

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Council officials working for Manakau mayor Len Brown approached a restaurant asking its staff to "make up" a dinner receipt that excluded details of beer and wine purchased during a $810 dinner.

The revelation comes as official documents show it took Brown 437 days to repay his council for a family Christmas ham he bought from a butcher.

Brown has been ducking criticism in the past week over his mayoral credit card, which he used to buy personal items for himself and his family, including a stereo system and Christmas ham.

The Sunday Star-Times revealed last week that Brown spent $10,864.98 in the past 12 months on council plastic. It has since emerged he racked up $16,977.22 since winning the mayoralty in 2007. The Star-Times requested copies of each receipt for each transaction since Brown was elected mayor.

On Friday, a bundle of receipts was sent by the council's chief executive, Leigh Auton. The majority of receipts were eftpos ones rather than tax invoices showing exactly what was purchased.

Council regulations require a tax invoice to be submitted for every transaction, especially for spends of more than $50.

One of the tax invoices provided to the Star-Times was for an $810 dinner at Manurewa's Volare Restaurant on a Sunday evening in September 2009. The only details of the visit on the invoice are "dinner for mayor Len Brown, includes food and beverage".

The tax invoice is different from the usual invoices given to diners at the South Auckland eatery.

The Star-Times has learned that council officials contacted the restaurant last week - 36 weeks after the visit - and asked them to produce a new receipt and fax it to council headquarters. Volare owner Daniel Nakhle yesterday confirmed "a new receipt was requested" just a few days ago.

A large number of other restaurant and bar receipts did not include any other information other than the date, time and amount spent. Auton could not be reached for comment.

Meanwhile, other transactions to emerge from Brown's credit card statements included various hotel mini-bar and room service charges, takeaways, Panadol, toys from Kmart, a filled roll from New World, ear cleaner from a chemist, and a $150 lunch in April 2009 with North Shore mayor Andrew Williams.

Following revelations about Brown's credit card spending, he appeared on Campbell Live last Tuesday and used scissors to cut up his council card.

He told host John Campbell he used the council card to buy personal items because he left his personal card with his wife, Shan Inglis. He said the family had only one card.

The personal expenditure totalling $638.27 was repaid on March 5 this year, 437 days since he made the first personal purchase.

- © Fairfax NZ News