Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) — The Environmental Protection
Agency’s watchdog, which faulted agency managers in March for
failing to properly oversee the use of government credit cards,
has now been criticized for the same practice.
An investigator for the EPA’s Office of Inspector General
said its staff had done the same thing it criticized agency
employees for eight months ago.
Of $62,012 in purchases from late 2012 through April that
were reviewed, $36,488 — more than half — were improper,
according to a report released today by Kevin Christensen, the
acting assistant inspector general.
In a letter to the deputy inspector general, Charles Sheehan, Christiansen said his audit didn’t find that any card
purchases were fraudulent.
“However, when internal controls are not followed, it
increases the risk of fraudulent, prohibited and improper
purchases,” Christiansen wrote.
In his response, Sheehan, who commissioned the internal
review of the inspector’s office, pledged to take “corrective
actions” the office had advised.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Mark Drajem in Washington at
mdrajem@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Jon Morgan at
jmorgan97@bloomberg.net
Steve Geimann