Newfoundland and Labrador's auditor general released three reports Tuesday outlining how three politicians overspent hundreds of thousands of dollars from their constituency allowances.

Auditor General John Noseworthy identified New Democrat MHA Randy Collins, Liberal MHA Wally Andersen and former Liberal cabinet minister Jim Walsh as overspenders. All three had previously issued statements that they have retained counsel to deal with Noseworthy's inquiries.

Noseworthy said that Collins received $295,418 more than he was entitled to during four years between 2003 and 2006.

He also found that Andersen received $243,244 above his constituency allowance during the same time period, while Walsh received $228,169 above his $61,000 limit over two years — 2003 and 2004.

Noseworthy's audit found last month that Ed Byrne, the former government house leader, was compensated for more than 10 times the amount he was entitled to over a two-year period. Byrne resigned from cabinet in June. 

"In a nutshell, these three reports are very similar to the one that was tabled on Mr. Byrne," said Noseworthy, "and represent the amount of monies that were provided to these people in excess of the amounts approved by the commission of internal economy."

Noseworthy said Walsh also paid $80,000 to three companies — Zodiac Agencies, JAS Enterprises and Cedar Scents International — for promotional materials.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary is investigating those companies.
 
"With regards to the payments of the three companies in the case of Mr. Walsh ... the authorities would look into that and determine whether or not that was appropriate or not," said Noseworthy.

In his first report, Noseworthy indicated that staff at the legislature were involved in questionable activities involving Byrne's constituency allowance.

However, when asked at a news conference Tuesday about possible collusion in connection with the latest reports, Noseworthy abruptly ended the conference.

"There's not much else I can add to it," said Noseworthy.

"These are very similar to the other reports, and, you know, I've answered all the questions about these three companies and how this worked. So from my perspective I'm going to walk away from this and offer no more further public comment on it."

Like Noseworthy's previous reports, the latest information has been turned over to the Justice Department for a possible police investigation.