A whopping £500,000 paid in error to a bankrupt company has still not been recovered by the Isle of Wight council.
The mistake was made by a member of council staff last year, after being explicitly tasked with ensuring that any outstanding purchase orders for Pihl Ltd, the company responsible for building Cowes Enterprise College, were cancelled.
Kerching!
Instead an invoice for £517,878 inc VAT was paid to Pihl Ltd, despite the company having gone into administration several months before.
Nearly nine months have passed since the error was made and the cash-strapped council appears to be no closer to recovering the money.
“No news”
In January the court hearing was adjourned to February, then March, then news was expected four weeks later, but according to a spokespeson for the council,
“There is currently no further news in respect to the Pihl court hearing.”
