The government announced hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding for a proposed waste-to-energy scheme two days after experts advised it was a lemon.
The Environment Ministry warned the Provincial Growth Fund that the proposed project on the West Coast was unsustainable economically or environmentally.
Regional Economic Development Minister Shane Jones placed the proposed scheme on ice in February after RNZ informed him its chief executive, Gerard Gallagher, had been referred to the Serious Fraud Office.
The advice obtained under the Official Information Act shows the Environment Ministry warned the scheme had enormous flaws just two days before Mr Jones announced $350,000 for its feasibility study.
The experts cautioned that the scheme would undermine other incentives to reduce waste, like recycling, and increase carbon emissions.
Mr Jones said he never received the advice, and even if he had, it would have made no difference.