An audit of past travel by city executives, particularly some 32 out-of-state trips taken by former Honolulu Mayor Jeremy Harris in 2003-2004, has prompted calls for tighter controls of travel requests and better record-keeping by the city.

The examination, requested by the City Council in late 2004, was conducted by City Auditor Leslie Tanaka and released Friday.

The audit found that Harris' frequent trips out of town and out of country in the last year of his administration were often paid by third parties. Harris said at the time that since they were gifts unrelated to his official duties as mayor, he did not have to report the money or seek prior approval from the council to accept the gifts.

From June through December 2004, Harris traveled out of state 19 times to such destinations as Japan, China, Sweden, Canada, Australia and Washington, D.C., according to travel records. Ten of the trips were paid for in whole or in part by third parties.

But in some cases, Harris did not take vacation time and was paid his official salary, despite the fact that he could only accept the travel gift if it was unrelated to his official duties, the auditor pointed out.

Harris was unavailable for comment yesterday. Attempts to reach former City Managing Director Ben Lee and former Harris administration spokeswoman Carol Costa were unsuccessful.

In defending his travel in 2004, Harris acknowledged that he had been away "significantly more" that year than in previous years, but said that was because Ho-nolulu had become widely known as a success story.

"I'm very proud to be asked to speak at these prestigious events," Harris said in July 2004.

He dismissed council criticisms and questions about his travel as frivolous and said disclosure of the source of travel funds had never been required of other mayors.

Yesterday, Councilman Charles Djou, the most vocal critic of Harris' travel activities, said the audit showed "there are loopholes in the ethics code that we've got to close" because "clearly we need more transparency in city government."

City ethics laws say that gifts worth more than $200 may not be accepted if there is an appearance that the gift could affect the recipient's official duties.

But if there's no connection to official work, then city executives can accept gifts of any amount and they are under no obligation to report them. There used to be a reporting requirement, but in changes enacted in 2002 and 2004, those requirements were eliminated.

The audit also noted that some traveling city executives failed to submit final paperwork or reports after they returned, which could have tax consequences for them and the city.

The report noted that compliance with the reporting requirements improved under the administration of Mayor Mufi Hannemann.

Reach Jim Dooley at jdooley@honoluluadvertiser.com.