SYDNEY—Telstra has denied a report that its executives indulged in a lavish lifestyle while travelling overseas to persuade investors to take up shares in the company's final privatisation.
Fairfax reports that The Australian National Audit Office has found uncompetitive tenders, inflated hotel bills and shoddy account keeping were associated with the T3 sale process.
It says Telstra Chief Executive Sol Trujillo and Chief Financial Officer John Stanhope benefited from an overseas taxpayer-funded tour as they were touting Telstra shares.
But Telstra spokeswoman Rosie Mullaly says the executives were not on a junket, but a five week roadshow with about 100 meetings in 18 overseas cities.
"What it delivered to the taxpayer was almost double the initial target," she told AAP.
The T3 sale process had raised $15.4 billion, instead of the $8 billion anticipated when the process began, Ms Mullaly said.
Responding to reports that Telstra executives stayed at exclusive hotels, costing more than $1,300 a person a night, she said that in the first four days of the roadshow, they had held 26 meetings across two continents.
"They needed accommodation where they could hold meetings in their rooms, and do it effectively."
The audit report did not criticise the executives at all, Ms Mulally said.
The roadshow project did cost more than had been budgeted, she said, but it had delivered much more than anticipated.
The Finance Minister at the time, Nick Minchin, had said in November 2006 that the roadshow had been a "superb success".
Fairfax said the national audit office had found stockbrokers, investment banks and corporate advisers were the main beneficiaries of the $204 million spent on the T3 sale process.
An error occurred on the server when processing the URL. Please contact the system administrator.