Spin Reduxit: Analyzing AG Kim MacPherson's 2nd Atcon audit

Spin Reduxit is CBC New Brunswick's political podcast and analyzes the latest issues coming out of the legislature.The Jewelry and Aruba Edition was recorded on Oct. 3 and published on Oct 4.

The latest Spin Reduxit podcast analyzes the fallout from Auditor General Kim MacPherson's second audit into the Atcon fiasco.

MacPherson's 2015 audit was scathing in how it documented how the Liberal government of Shawn Graham showed a "very troubling disregard for taxpayers' money when it ignored the advice of civil servants and approved three loan guarantees.

But the independent financial watchdog's investigation into the Atcon scandal did not end there. There were still questions coming to her office about what happened to the money.

That is where the Oct. 3 report came in from the auditor general.

• MacPherson tried to nail down some of those unanswered questions
• Atcon's 'extravagance' while asking for taxpayer help surprised auditor general
• Opportunities NB boss defends response to Atcon fiasco

Atcon was so badly managed, taxpayers' $63M was never going to save it, according to the auditor general's report.

She found that finances were so bad at the Miramichi-based company that the provincial loan guarantees were "never going to have been enough to 'save' Atcon."

She also found some spending issues.

For instance, a company account also paid $700,000 of "personal expenses of a shareholder," including a luxury car lease, jewelry and payments on a vacation property in Aruba.

The Spin Reduxit podcast was originally recorded on Oct. 3 as a Facebook Live event. You can re-watch the Facebook Live session here.

Listen to the full discussion andsubscribe to Spin Reduxitfromthe CBC Podcasts page orsubscribe to the podcast in iTunes.

FollowDaniel McHardieandJacques Poitrason Twitter.