星空传媒

Documents submitted at recent board meetings held at the St Mary鈥檚 NHS Trust and the Brompton & Harefield Trust reveal that the trusts are liable for 拢3.2m each. This follows the decision to cancel the scheme by the local strategic health authority last month.

The money is owed to Partnerships UK (PUK), a government backed body which advises and backs PFI deals. PUK struck a deal with the two trusts which saw the costs of getting the scheme off the ground shared three ways.

The documents also reveal a dispute between the trusts鈥� internal auditors and external auditors Deloitte over how the costs should be accounted for.

A report by Deloittes claims that the costs are actual liabilities due to the cancellation of the project and should be accounted for in both trusts鈥� accounts for 2004-2005, while the trust auditors claims the costs should be termed 鈥渃ontingent鈥� and not affect last year鈥檚 balance sheet.

The Deloitte report said: 鈥淲e consider we have a disagreement with the Trusts which in light of the magnitude of the amounts involved and level of materiality we need to include in our audit opinion.鈥�