Anti-Fraud Official Faces Fraud Probe

[BR_Parkway]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/05/antifraud_offic.html

A senior government official is under investigation by a congressional committee for allegations he engaged in "widespread fraud, waste, and abuse" -– the same misbehavior he is supposed to ferret out.

Johnnie Frazier, the inspector general of the U.S. Department of Commerce, is said to have rigged contract bids for cronies, fraudulently charged the government for improper travel, wasted tens of thousands of dollars on an erstwhile office remodeling and may have destroyed files that were proof of his wrongdoing, according to accounts given to lawmakers by current and former employees.

As his department's senior investigator, Frazier is supposed to "detect and prevent waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement" at Commerce, according to his office's Web site.

In an April 27 letter to Frazier announcing an investigation into his office, House Energy and Commerce Chairman John. D. Dingell, D-Mich.; ranking member Joe Barton, R-Texas; subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak, D-Mich.; and ranking subcommittee member Ed Whitfield, R-Ky., detailed a wide range of allegations they had received from whistle-blowers in his department.

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[hobbit709]

1. The fox in the henhouse

appears to be the ruling theory of the administration.

[Ian David]

2. Oversight. Accountability. Get used to it, Repukes. n/t

[tanyev]

3. But government agencies are supposed to act as a concierge for big bidness.

It's the GOP mission statement.