As much as 40 million kroner made in payments by the regional government of Zealand Region Sjælland to the IT company Atea are unaccounted for, Sn.dk reports.

The consultancy firm Rambøll has been through Atea’s invoices and the payments made by the region and, according to Sn.dk, the region has paid up to 40 million kroner for invoices that were never issued or cannot be found.

Atea has also issued invoices totalling 15 million kroner that the region has never seen.

Both Per Buchwaldt, the head of IT at the region, and its chief executive Jens Andersen declined to comment on the case.

Peter Jacobsen, the deputy chairman of the regional council, said that clearing up the mess would be a priority, but warned that it would take time.

“There’s no doubt that things have happened that shouldn’t have. Millions have disappeared and on a dramatic scale,” he said.

“Everything must be done to unravel this. But it isn’t something that can be done in an afternoon. Because everything suggests that someone has thought a lot about what they were doing here.”