The Hawaii Tourism Authority has been rebuked by the Hawaii state auditor for poor oversight and extravagant spending.
The auditor said the agency failed to follow even its own procedures and was wasteful with reimbursements made to AEG, the firm that manages the Hawaii Convention Center.
"They reimbursed AEG for high end hotels, extravagant meals at places like Morimoto’s and Alan Wongs. Things that their contract specifically prohibited. HTA reimbursed AEG over $50,000 for first class air travel," state auditor Leslie Kondo said.
Reimbursements worth millions of dollars were made without receipts and other required documents, the audit found, in what it described as an ‘environment of loose oversight.’
Contracts were awarded or renewed on ‘questionable justifications.’
In its published findings, the auditor said HTA’s ‘deficient procurement and contracting practices undermine accountability and do not ensure best value.’
"This is what happens when no one is watching, or, maybe, no one thinks that they need to be watched. Things have been allowed to snowball, in a sense, to the point that HTA doesn’t have the internal controls to provide proper oversight," Kondo said in a statement.
The audit goes back as far as 2013 and Kondo acknowledged some improvements have since been made.
HTA board member Rick Fried said a major management overhaul has seen improvements, but ‘there could have been better accountability.’
