MACHYNLLETH Town Council missed out on VAT repayments of over £5,000, failed to keep adequate records and should never have set up a bank account for murdered schoolgirl April Jones, a damning audit report has found.

The council has announced it is holding an extraordinary meeting on Wednesday, 24 August, to address problems identified by auditors BDO, including a finding that the council has failed to properly prepare its accounts for the last six financial years.

The highly critical audit report has also claimed that the town council failed to prepare its accounts on the correct basis, failed to keep adequate records to allow the accounts to be prepared correctly and failed to keep a register of the council’s assets.

One of the issues identified was the failure of former clerk John Parsons, identified as former clerk 1, to reclaim VAT payments that saw the council lose out on £5,073 in 2011/12, around two per cent of the council’s annual budget.

The report says: “The former clerk 1 failed to discharge his responsibilities in relation to the financial management of the council and failed to maintain proper accounting records.”

See this week’s Machynlleth & Llanidloes edition for the full story, in shops and online now