Belfast Boondoggle

At first the project seemed to herald Northern Ireland's economic revitalization. In 1978 the British government agreed to help finance John Z. De Lorean's West Belfast car factory, which eventually provided 2,600 jobs at a time when 35% of the city's male workers were unemployed. But after four years the company went bankrupt, and De Lorean was later arrested on charges of trafficking in cocaine. Last week a British parliamentary committee issued a scathing 328-page report that attacks his misappropriation of public funds.

De Lorean's company received about $100 million in British taxpayers' money, but wasted much of it, according to the report. De Lorean paid himself and top officials annual salaries of more than $300,000, and diverted $17 million earmarked for design development into a Swiss bank account and the purchase of a U.S. ski-equipment company. Moreover, President Eugene Cafeiro still drew his $375,000 salary after leaving the company. The report urges the British government to review carefully future joint ventures.