An audit released on Wednesday by the city comptroller found widespread financial irregularities with record-keeping at the 79th Street Boat Basin in Manhattan, raising concerns about the possibility of fraud.

Record-keeping was performed so poorly from January 2005 through December 2006, the period analyzed by the comptroller’s office, that auditors were unable to determine how much money may have gone unaccounted, officials said.

Instead of relying solely on records kept by the chief dock master and the Department of Parks and Recreation, which oversees the boat basin, the comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., said auditors collected information from customers who paid fees to dock, moor and store their boats, and for other services, including vehicle parking.

In one case, 23 people reported to auditors that they had paid a total of $66,250 to park their cars at the boat basin in 2005; the boat basin, however, recorded collecting only $22,750 from them.

Such problems, according to the audit, “form a clear pattern that fraud may have occurred.”

“In terms of lack of documentation and record-keeping, it’s probably one of the worst cases I’ve seen since I’ve been here,” said Mr. Thompson, who was elected in 2001.

The audit, which included recommendations to the parks department for avoiding future problems, has been turned over to the city’s Department of Investigation, as are all audits, Mr. Thompson said.

In a statement, the parks commissioner, Adrian Benepe, said that while he agreed with many of the audit’s recommendations, there was no evidence of misappropriation of funds.

“Parks has strengthened the management and financial controls of the 79th Street Boat Basin and has already implemented many of the changes suggested in the audit,” Mr. Benepe said. “The audit found no instances of fraud or misappropriation, and we continue to disagree with the audit’s characterization of several events as ‘red flag’ fraud indicators.”

The boat basin reported revenues of $874,147 in the 2005 fiscal year and $949,064 in 2006. That money was turned over to the parks department. The popular basin has 60 moorings and 110 slips, according to the department’s Web site. There were 454 applicants on the waiting list as of January 2007, according to the audit.

Among what Mr. Thompson called “fraud indicators,” the audit found the duties of the chief dock master included signing agreements with boaters while also accepting payments from them — tasks that are typically handled by two people to prevent wrongdoing. The audit also found that the parks department’s boat basin records were “inaccurate and incomplete.”

Source: NY Times