A key question here is will the thieves who took this money be forced to pay it back? A purge across the country would probably inject enough money back into the economy to avoid a recession.

glynn, Horsham, UK

Good call Bob Jones you may have something there I think - I don't trust Boris any more then Ken to be honest. These people have no real control over anything they are all just puppets or at least most of them. We need REAL people in power like your Mum and Dad our friends, people who give a damn.

Robert Nesta, Coventry, England

Is Boris saying it is a waste to leave fine wines for him?

diana, derby, uk

nothing would be finer than seeing Ken frogmarched down to the Old Bailey.

RonP, London, UK

This is only the tip of a Ver y Big Ice berg, if this country is to survive we need all the money we can get, that means no more corruption, Kick the door in Generals, get your Auditers in, Take over the BBC and tell us what has been going on.

adrian peirson, luton, Beds

"A million pounds here, a million pounds there, pretty soon you are talking about REAL money," to paraphrase American Senator Everett Dirksen. No matter what the totals are, some people do not mind waste, fraud, corruption or theft if they are each kept under a million quid. Or more.

Bob Evans, Anaheim, California

I heard something intersting the other day which is related to this story. Council Auditors (the people who check up on public spending at your council) have a policy of not reporting potential frauds of less than £2 million.
Makes you wonder where Ken got the idea from?

Could be worth looking at?

bob jones, wales,

We are all equal but some (Ken Livingstone) are more equal than others. Typical socialist. Do as I say not as I do.

Ruth, London, UK

So why are the papers hyping up that a Tory flew on expenses to his sons wedding, whilst Labour and Red Ken have spent millions and millions of our money unaccounted for.
The storm in a teacup versus the possible fraudulent use of millions of pounds.

Richard K, Nottingham,

I assume Piltdown Man was a beneficiary of LDA grants.

Preventing this sort of rubbish is very simple you allocate a grant to an orgianization, when they bring in proof of paid invoices you advance the funds spent, otherwise you don't. It's amazing the money you save.

Rob, Winnipeg, Canada

Nice to see that no English run projects were under the spotlight.

Cromwell, Leeds, England

This is no surprise.
Other nulabor councils are just as corrupt.

martin brighton, sheffield,

Remember the DOME fiasco? Described as NAFF by Joanna Lumley. An egg shaped pancake, and on the opposite warf the magnificent Millennium corn store that should have been renovated to celebrate the docks. Who had any idea of the cultural expectations of ordinary people.

jane, Whittlesey, UK

Wow, what a surprise. Let's get it all out in the open.

Dr Ian Burgess, Bristol,

We should have independant audits on all local councils and government departments and find out exactly how much of our tax money is being squandered or "lost". I suspect the truth would be horrifying.

Charlie, Nottingham,

Ken Livingstone oversaw a government of sleaze and now its seems outright corruption.
This whisky addicted major should have been ousted years ago.
Londoners only have themselves to blame for electing him in the first place.

James, London, UK

I am perplexed as to how this so called 'wasted millions' claim, if true, can be allowed to happen in this day and age ---it begs the questions who is this department accountable to? and where is the transparency? If these fundamental issues are not addressed, what is to stop the same happening ...

payne, London, UK

Pity that Ken lost . Labour could have had their financial problems (sub £6m) sorted out without even going to the board of the LDA, I am sure that a case for a worthwhile project could have been made or spun.

DonnyB, edinburgh,

"...success seems to have been measured by money [paid] out rather than objectively determined results".

That sums up New Labour's attitude to government. They extract vast sums of money from taxpayers and hurl it wildly at their vague, poorly-defined "targets". Little or nothing is accomplished.

Tom Welsh, Basingstoke,

Well done Boris. But l hope he realises before it's too late the waste potential of some of his own dafter ideas. For example rushing to throw out bendy-buses (high capacity, no stairs to climb, easy to get in and out of) and replace them by buses with conductors who have no fares left to collect.

Barry, Wallington, UK

It is disgraceful that the media is reporting this story in this way. The implication is that the audit panel was somehow independent of Boris Johnson. It was not, it was established by Boris Johnson and consisted almost entirely of Conservatives amd they have uncovered no corruption or illegality.

Tim Paramour, London, UK

seems that "the joke" who was supposed to ruin london has exposed labour corruption in city hall and taken good measures to cut crime on public transport. keep up the good work!

tim, london,

Nice one, Eric Reynolds of Glasgow, but (1) oil does not come from Scotland, unless the Scots have developed a propensity for surviving under sea water; and even if they did the proportion of North Sea oli that is scottish depends on how you project the England/Scotland border into the sea.

John L., London, UK

Just wait till the Tories take over. All those billions thrown at quangos set up under this corrupt Labour government. Then there will be the sheer scale of the waste of tax payers money on Health, Education and the many failed law and order schemes. The Tories will have a field day.

D Case, Newquay,

Same happened when the Poles inspected the books once the Commies had left.

ian payne, walsall,

until there is a police investigation this story could be just 'Boris spin'

Mike, Gravesend, England

I'm wondering whether the police should be brought in to investigate Livingstone and his mates. Let's hope that no one is stupid enough to employ them in the future although, knowing how many of the Kinnock family live off the tax payer, that's perhaps a forlorn hope.

David, Poole,

I am looking forward to reading "Squandered" about the 1.23 trillion labour has lost/wasted in 11 years, including Gordon Brown losing billions by selling our gold reserves. Ken Livingstone and Lee Jasper typify the labour party ideal "what's mine is mine, what's yours is mine".

Tim Wood, London,

Silly little man,Guess what part of UK spends most on lotto ,yep north of the border,and lotto is being milked to sub london games ,londoners and S,E get more per head than any part of uk N,I GETS MOST,dont forget the oil revenue boris that comes from Scotland as well,the cheek of it.

Eric Reynolds, GLASGOW , SCOTLAND

I am sure this is not the last we will hear about misuse of public funds by the Livingstone regime. I would like nothing more than to see Livingstone explain himself in court.

Ralph Lawson, London, United Kingdom

What did anyone expect? Livingstone's 'accounting techniques' were plain to see after he left County Hall first time around.

Belinda, London,

Hardly a surprise, Livingstone was a slimey character who used public money to 'buy' support by various minority groups.

Good interview on Andrew Marr show, Boris ... nice to see a politician talking both common-sense and actually answering a question.

Donna Walker, Effingham, England

From whatever crawls out from under the overturned Livingstones, I very much doubt if anyone will ever end up in the pokey.

Terry , L'Absie, France

Are Labour going to be:
Public accountabilty?
CallFraud squad?
I think not, and just why are we paying such a high pension to Livingstone? Who agreed it?

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

You think this is scary, try and concieve ofr how much tax payers money our glorious Labour government have wasted on 'initiatives' over the last 11 years....*shudders*

Steve, Norwich, Norfolk

No doubt ,in however many years it takes, Boris's successor will eventually be making similar allegations of "mismanagement", waste, incompetence etc etc.

Neil, Gloucestershire, England

Was a panel of Tories ever not going to find "endemic waste"? This would all be far more impressive and compelling if Johnson had had the courage to appoint independent people to do the work. All this is, unfortunately, is politically-motivatd points scoring.

J Wild, Warwickshire,

Wouldn't it have been better to hire a profesional auditor rather than an ex-journalist to perform the audit?

Martin, Poole, UK

Are we to assume that because they were not in breach of any council wheelie bin laws., any of the people found to have misused grant funds will not be prosecuted?

Or is Boris serious? Now that would impress the voters.

Tony Atkins, Cairns, Austalia

Say what you like, but at least the investigators are working at private sector speed. Ever noticed how reports Labour calls for take 18 months to come out with a prelim?

Simon, Wokingham, England

Ken Livingstone's arrogance reaches out from the political grave. Projects below £6 million 'did not need' LDA board approval! Nobody knows what £millions have been spent on. There seems to a common thread involving 'minority' projects and missing cash. Buying votes? Ken must provide answers.

P. Williams, London, England

The LDA along with RDA's and un elected regional assemblies through out England are un accountable to any one. It is time to close them all down .

gadgie, Durham , England

barry of leigh, either one objects to misuse of public funds on principal, or one does not. I do. Only people who care about party politics more than they do about the country are ever relaxed about misuse of taxpayer money.

Oliver Chettle, Bedford,

Why am I not surprised that millions are unaccounted for and millions more appear to have been spent on schemes that came to nothing. I first started taking an interest in politics when Stafford Cripps was launching the ground nut scheme so nothing much changes with Labour over the years.

William Epps, Broadstairs, UK

While there checking how the money was spent, isn't it about time someone looked into the billions of pounds that are being wasted widening pavements. Also installing traffic Islands, railings, bollards, metal posts and oversized speed bumps. Is this really a sensible use of taxpayers money

D SHAW, London, England

More Boris hot air managed by central office. Give it a rest old boy.

barry, leigh,

No wonder Ken L introduced a congestion charge, it deflected the loss of all the other monies it would appear.
How do these people NOT get arrested. It appears the higher up the ladder and the more public money goes missing the less chance of arrest.

keithw, Wirral, UK

I notice that the Guardian aren't running this story if they really cared about Londoners they would.

VJay, London,