Report: UNM Athletic Director spent $65,000 of school funds for golf trip to Scotland
What golfer doesn't dream about making the ultimate golf buddy trip to Scotland, the birthplace of golf? University of New Mexico's Athletic Director Paul Krebs shared that dream, so in 2015 he got together a group of his co-workers and local businessmen friends and finally took that trip across the pond. The problem? He financed the trip with the public university's money and lied about it.
According to a report by KRQE News in Albuquerque, Krebs planned the trip through a travel agency in Indiana. He initially pegged the price tag for him and two other school officials at $39,382, lying and saying the money was for a basketball tournament in Ireland.
That would have been bad enough, but according to a new KRQE report, last week Krebs went to current school president Chaouki Abdallah and admitted he hadn't been entirely truthful, and that he spent an additional $24,000 to take three local businessmen on the trip, businessmen who were unaffiliated with the school.
Of the latest revelation, KRQE's Larry Barker writes:
"It's a bombshell UNM's Athletic Director failed to disclose until last week. President Abdallah acknowledges this is a “serious” omission. “There's no question in my mind it was wrong,” President Abdallah said.
So not only did the public pay for Krebs, Neal and McKamey to live it up in Scotland, but businessmen Darin Davis, Raleigh Gardenhire and Paul Gibson also got a free vacation courtesy of UNM. Never mind the expenditures are in direct violation of the state constitution's anti-donation clause."
The school recently received an anonymous donation to reimburse the businessmen's portion of the trip, and all that seems to have satisfied the school president, who told KRQE, "I've worked with VP Krebs for a while and I think he is an honorable man. He's done a lot of good for this university."
Read the full report at KRQE.com.