RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) – The current chief and other former leaders of the Haliwa-Saponi tribe filed inaccurate information last year when they asked for a $1 million grant from the group that doles out money from North Carolina's tobacco settlement, according to a state audit released Tuesday.

The audit suggests the leaders may face misdemeanor criminal charges if they knowingly submitted the false information to the Golden Leaf Foundation to get the money for a community center where most of the tribe lives in Halifax County.

The foundation took back the $316,000 it had agreed to give the tribe after the information in the grant request couldn't be verified. In a response to the audit, the tribe said it accepted the findings and has put more controls in place to make sure its grant applications are thoroughly checked for accuracy.

"We have addressed the process to all responsible parties internal to the Tribe to ensure that we are providing the highest level of integrity and compliance as we move forward. We are working with a professional consultant to provide training in regard to the grant application process," tribe chairman Joseph Richardson wrote.

The tribe decided in April 2004 to begin work on a community center that would include a basketball court, exercise equipment and a stage. The building would be an afterschool center and a storm shelter for an area where the nearest shelter was 25 miles away, according to the audit.

Over nearly five years, the tribe spent $158,000 on architecture work and fundraising, but little else. At a February 2009 tribal council meeting, the estimated cost of the building was increased to nearly $1.3 million, and the tribe decided to give up on the project a short time later, the state said.

But nearly a year later, tribal leaders sent a signed grant application to the Golden Leaf Foundation asking for money for the community center. The foundation agreed to give $316,000 as long as leaders could show the tribe and school district supported the project and account for enough money to complete the work, according to the audit.

The audit found the tribe reported it had a $700,000 loan, but the paperwork for the loan was never finished. The tribe also reported it secured a $600,000 federal Indian Housing Block Grant, but that money couldn't be used on a project that was rejected by the tribe.

The tribe's chief and its economic development director told the auditors that it didn't think the 2009 vote ended the project.

The names of the people who signed the application were not released in the audit.