91ÇÑ×Ó

Further evidence of massive overspending at the National Union of Students has come to light in documents seen by The 91ÇÑ×ÓS . The discovery follows previous leaked papers that spoke of a "culture of unnecessary expenditure" having developed in the organisation.

A print-out dating from May shows financial year-to-date expenditure against budget for the ten months to April 30 2001. Most alarming is spending on National Executive Committee priority campaigns, which overshot the ?50,250 budget by 233 per cent - a total of ?167,325.83.

NUS president Owain James said the report was "a very rough-and-ready document" that did not truly reflect the current state of the organisation. He said some evidence of overspending - such as the welfare manual, budgeted at ?2,083, that eventually cost ?15,185 - was caused by a delay in sponsorship payments. The priority campaigns budget had been overspent because of exceptional circumstances, including the threat of top-up fees and the election campaign, he said.

Some student activists were angered by what they saw as extravagance. But Mr James said spending was under control, adding: "A lot of time and effort have gone into putting new regulations in place that will mean this situation cannot arise again."