Herald Sun :
Quote :Falls Creek Resort in porn scandal
ONE of Victoria’s top ski resorts has been embroiled in a porn scandal amid claims of financial mismanagement and misuse of public money.
ONE of Victoria’s top ski resorts has been embroiled in a porn scandal amid claims of financial mismanagement and misuse of public money.
Falls Creek Resort management used taxpayers’ money to cover some of a $18,000 phone bill incurred by the resort’s former chief when his phone accessed X-rated websites.
The State Government says it is “deeply concerned” by the scandal at the publicly owned resort and has questioned why CEO David Herman remained in the top job for two years after the content of the data charges was revealed.
In 2011, Mr Herman was on a weekend boys’ trip to New Zealand when his phone was charged international roaming fees for visits to sites containing images and videos of “upskirt students”, “teen jailbait”, “teens under shower”, “high school girls”, “drunk teens are fun” and “sleeping teens”.
The Herald Sun can also reveal that:
THE Department of Environment may intervene if Falls Creek cannot answer questions about its finances.
STAFF raised concerns about the amount of public money spent by management on lavish social engagements.
FALLS Creek refused Herald Sun Freedom of Information requests, including details of expenditures and gifts received by senior public servants.
alls Creek finance officers noticed unusual phone charges on Mr Herman’s bill and quickly raised the issue with the board.
Sources say workers who spoke out were targeted and told to keep quiet.
Last night Mr Herman said the Falls Creek resort management board had undertaken a thorough investigation into the matters raised.
“While on vacation I, like many other Telstra customers at that time, failed to disable the data roaming facility on my mobile phone and incurred excessive data charges,” said Mr Herman.
“Telstra subsequently reduced the invoice for these charges and I covered the remaining net cost.”
Mr Herman refused to say if it was him or someone else who accessed the sex sites.
Falls Creek launched an internal investigation into the bill and hired lawyers to fight Telstra.
The same year, several cases of excess international roaming charges had been made public amid soaring complaints to the telecoms ombudsman about international roaming charges.
Telstra eventually reduced the charges to $7900 and Mr Herman was ordered to pay $7000. Falls Creek paid $900, plus legal fees.
In a statement, the resort’s management board wrote: “The inquiry, conducted both internally and externally found the former executive, while on vacation had used their mobile phone for personal use resulting in excessive data charges.
“After negotiations with the carrier, it was confirmed the service provider could not verify the source or nature of the data downloaded, nor could it validate or reconcile data to the actual download session.”
Mr Herman kept his job and lived on the mountain in a government-owned house with his wife and two children until he resigned last December.
He is now CEO of Lort Smith Animal Hospital in North Melbourne.
Falls Creek is yet to table its 2013-2014 annual report. Earlier this year, the delay prompted Environment Minister Lisa Neville to issue a warning.
Acting Environment Minister Gavin Jennings said: “Falls Creek advised the Government on March 10 that they were unable to table their statutory accounts 2013-2014 due to errors that existed in the opening balances of certain fixed assets, and elsewhere.
“I have been advised by Falls Creek that they are working with the Auditor-General ... and the report will be complete at the end of August.”
Quote :Falls Creek Resort in porn scandal
ONE of Victoria’s top ski resorts has been embroiled in a porn scandal amid claims of financial mismanagement and misuse of public money.
ONE of Victoria’s top ski resorts has been embroiled in a porn scandal amid claims of financial mismanagement and misuse of public money.
Falls Creek Resort management used taxpayers’ money to cover some of a $18,000 phone bill incurred by the resort’s former chief when his phone accessed X-rated websites.
The State Government says it is “deeply concerned” by the scandal at the publicly owned resort and has questioned why CEO David Herman remained in the top job for two years after the content of the data charges was revealed.
In 2011, Mr Herman was on a weekend boys’ trip to New Zealand when his phone was charged international roaming fees for visits to sites containing images and videos of “upskirt students”, “teen jailbait”, “teens under shower”, “high school girls”, “drunk teens are fun” and “sleeping teens”.
The Herald Sun can also reveal that:
THE Department of Environment may intervene if Falls Creek cannot answer questions about its finances.
STAFF raised concerns about the amount of public money spent by management on lavish social engagements.
FALLS Creek refused Herald Sun Freedom of Information requests, including details of expenditures and gifts received by senior public servants.
alls Creek finance officers noticed unusual phone charges on Mr Herman’s bill and quickly raised the issue with the board.
Sources say workers who spoke out were targeted and told to keep quiet.
Last night Mr Herman said the Falls Creek resort management board had undertaken a thorough investigation into the matters raised.
“While on vacation I, like many other Telstra customers at that time, failed to disable the data roaming facility on my mobile phone and incurred excessive data charges,” said Mr Herman.
“Telstra subsequently reduced the invoice for these charges and I covered the remaining net cost.”
Mr Herman refused to say if it was him or someone else who accessed the sex sites.
Falls Creek launched an internal investigation into the bill and hired lawyers to fight Telstra.
The same year, several cases of excess international roaming charges had been made public amid soaring complaints to the telecoms ombudsman about international roaming charges.
Telstra eventually reduced the charges to $7900 and Mr Herman was ordered to pay $7000. Falls Creek paid $900, plus legal fees.
In a statement, the resort’s management board wrote: “The inquiry, conducted both internally and externally found the former executive, while on vacation had used their mobile phone for personal use resulting in excessive data charges.
“After negotiations with the carrier, it was confirmed the service provider could not verify the source or nature of the data downloaded, nor could it validate or reconcile data to the actual download session.”
Mr Herman kept his job and lived on the mountain in a government-owned house with his wife and two children until he resigned last December.
He is now CEO of Lort Smith Animal Hospital in North Melbourne.
Falls Creek is yet to table its 2013-2014 annual report. Earlier this year, the delay prompted Environment Minister Lisa Neville to issue a warning.
Acting Environment Minister Gavin Jennings said: “Falls Creek advised the Government on March 10 that they were unable to table their statutory accounts 2013-2014 due to errors that existed in the opening balances of certain fixed assets, and elsewhere.
“I have been advised by Falls Creek that they are working with the Auditor-General ... and the report will be complete at the end of August.”
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