Auditors tracked Vic Libs stolen cash

When the Victorian Liberal party called former director Damien Mantach about missing cash they thought he'd stolen $800,000.

Auditors spent weeks going through accounts and found discrepancies in invoices for work that was never done.

An executive committee meeting on Monday led to a phone call to Mr Mantach to come in the next day.

Instead, he sent his lawyer, looking to cut a deal.

The party wanted full disclosure about the thefts but Mr Mantach wanted to know if a deal was still on the table no matter how bad the final figure was.

He met with the party for hours on Wednesday, going through accounts and revealing the tally was as much as $1.5 million.

Even then it is still possible there might have been some transactions missed and the final figure could be higher.

The thefts had taken place from 2010 to 2014, in small amounts, but ramping up towards the end of his tenure at the November state election.

State president Michael Kroger has promised a full forensic review of all accounts, and changes to the party's financial controls to make sure it doesn't happen again.