Council inquiry into missing vehicles

The Dunedin City Council is promising to make public an investigation into missing fleet vehicles.

The council called in financial investigators from Deloitte four weeks ago for what it now calls a far-reaching investigation of its Citifleet and Citipark departments.

Until now it has not been known exactly what prompted the council to call in financial investigators. They are looking into differences between the number of vehicles bought and sold, and the number it actually owns.

The council will not say how many it thinks are missing. Nor will it say how many vehicles it now has, though it said in February it had 174 cars, trucks, vans and scooters.

On Thursday, the council's chief executive, Sue Bidrose, confirmed the probe into Citifleet and Citipark.

Dr Bidrose said she expects to get Deloitte's report by mid-August. But she says until then, she cannot say what action will be taken or if the report will be referred to police.

The investigation follows the death six weeks ago of the department's long-standing team leader Brent Bachop.