国际英语新闻:Thousands of jobs in Australia at risk as Hastie Group goes into voluntary administration

SYDNEY, May 28 (Xinhua) -- More than 2,000 jobs in Australia are at risk after engineering services company Hastie Group went into voluntary administration, local media reported on Monday.

The company had been in talks with banks and new investors to extend its loans last week, but the negotiation failed when Hastie found an employee had been falsifying the company's accounts, the Australian Associated Press reported.

The engineering services firm said in a statement that Hastie Group and its 44 Australian subsidiary companies appointed PPB Advisory as voluntary administrators on Monday.

Hastie operates throughout Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Middle East, and employs about 7,000 people.