Minute: A Ledger Entry Knowingly Falsified

MINUTE MIN/2011/02

1. The treasurer reported that the entry of 19 October 2010 (roof, materials, £1,140) was not the sum paid. The sum paid was £640. The difference was not taken by anybody; the entry was inflated so that the house would not be asked why the work had cost less than the estimate the meeting had approved.

2. The officer concerned said so himself, in writing, before anybody asked.

3. The false entry stays in the ledger. The true figure is written beside it, dated and signed. It was put to the meeting that the page be rewritten; the archivist objected that rewriting it would destroy the only evidence that it had been made, and the meeting agreed.

4. The word dishonesty was used at the meeting. It is not used in this minute, because no review by three members of other houses has considered the matter and clause 5 of the drafting rule reserves that word to them.

5. He asked to be released from the office and was, on FRM/2010/05, unannotated. No further paper was made.

6. No general examination of his earlier entries was opened. It was proposed and was refused, on the ground that a single entry is not a reason to reread eleven years of a man's work.

7. He continues to attend and holds a rota duty. Nothing further is to be said about this at notices or at the meal.