In April, All T&A Consulting Pty Ltd lodged a development application to establish an aquaculture facility on Tierney Road, off the Princes Highway, at Yatte Yattah.

The application included the construction of a new 600-square metre shed, containing a re-circulation aquaculture system with annual production capacity of up to 15 tonnes.

On August 22, Shoalhaven City Council approved consent for the use and development of land for an aquaculture facility at 15 Tierney Road. Consent is granted for five years.

READ MORE: Gilmore named in damning Regional Jobs and Investment Packages report

Department of Primary Industries requires the proponent, Valery Kovalevskiy, a Shoalhaven dog-breeder, to obtain an aquaculture permit before starting aquaculture activities on the site.

A Guardian Australia article revealed Kovalevskiy, who is the managing director of All T&A Consulting Pty Ltd, tried to raise more than $5 million from on the cryptocurrency market with aqua tokens.

An online currency tracker says the initial coin offering for iAqua tokens was April 29, 2018. There is no end date, but the tracker says the project was cancelled.

Mr Kovalevskiy did not answer calls from the Milton Ulladulla Times on Thursday, November 14. A request for comment has also been sent via email.

The Guardian Australia said Mr Kovalevskiy couldn't "explain anything" about the iAqua coin offering when asked.

However, he said to the online newspaper the project would be "fully operational" by June, 2020, but he was yet to obtain a construction certificate.

The production facility was backed by the Federal Government and former Gilmore MP Ann Sudmalis in February 2018. The government offered $205,000 to the company for stage one of "establishing a tank-based freshwater aquaculture facility" under the Regional Jobs and Investment Packages on the South Coast.

An Auditor General's report into the Government's $220 million Regional Jobs and Investment Packages scheme has revealed Ministers overruled advice to approve two projects in the Gilmore electorate.

The Australian National Audit Office's report, published on Melbourne Cup Day, concluded the "merit assessment processes were not an appropriate standard" with many government department grant recommendations rejected.

The Auditor General found two projects in the south coast region were approved for funding despite being at odds with departmental recommendations. Both were in the the Gilmore electorate, which was held by Ann Sudmalis on a slim margin after the 2016 election. However, the projects were not revealed by the Auditor General.

The Auditor General found 75 per cent of applications related to projects in Gilmore and the funding reflected the distribution with 73 per cent of applications in Gilmore. The report also stated four Eden-Monaro projects that were recommended for funding were not approved by the panel while three Gilmore projects were recommended but not approved.

Overall the panel approved 68 applications totaling more than $77 million which the department had not recommended. The panel also rejected 64 of the 232 recommended applications.