CBC execs' travel expenses questioned

OTTAWA, March 17 (UPI) -- Questions were raised Monday into the luxury European hotel bills incurred by executives of the taxpayer-funded Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

Documents obtained by the Ottawa Sun through the Access to Information Act showed the broadcaster's former President Robert Rabinovitch rang up a $4,377 bill to stay at the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel for five days in Istanbul in September 2006.

Bill Chambers, CBC's vice president of communications, told the newspaper the trip was "a very wise expenditure" as it enabled Rabinovitch to discuss future co-productions from around the world with other international broadcasting executives.

The newspaper also found the former head of CBC sport, Nancy Lee, and her assistant spent $8,590 over five days staying at the Kempinski Hotel Adlon in Berlin in July 2006.

That trip was for the beginning of the World Cup, where Lee attended meetings with FIFA officials and negotiated soccer rights for the CBC, Chambers said.