Now it's the Interior Department

Last week the Inspector General of the Interior Department, Earl Devaney, lambasted the department for ethical lapses, "Simply stated, short of a crime, anything goes at the highest levels of the Department of the Interior." Devaney went on to accuse the department of foregoing billions of dollars in off-shore oil leases by the simple screw-up(?) of not realizing that oil might go above $34 a barrel. He accused auditors of losing important files and then trying to cover the loss up.

This week it was announced that four Interior Department auditors charge the department with stopping their investigations into oil companies' fraudulent schemes to reduce their royalty payments to the government. The auditors have each brought suit under the False Claims Act, which awards the auditors a share of any money recovered.

It's possible that the auditors are in it for the money. Also, Devaney's charges against some auditors taint the reputation of all Interior auditors. However, it does not appear that these particular auditors are simply money grubbing hacks. They've been around; they have been with the department as auditors for over twenty years. They've received a number of awards for their efforts in recovering money owed the government. And the fact that four of them are pursuing four separate cases does not argue that they are disgruntled hacks looking to make a buck. In fact, in one case the state of Louisiana came to the same conclusions about Kerr-McGee as did one of the auditors and was able to get $600,000 out of the company. In most of the cases, the auditor's boss at first gave the go-ahead to pursue the investigation and later ordered the investigation stopped.

Since the change of administrations, the Interior Department auditors have collected about $45,000,000 a year. In the decade before the change, they collected $176,000,000 annually. Additionally, the use of subpoenas to obtain documents has been discontinued. So, one important tool in obtaining evidence of fraud has been taken away.

Some day I will add up all the wasted money that I've written about in these posts. I'm not sure whether Excel can support the number.