Federal Employees Charged Millions in Questionable Expenses on Credit Cards

[JohnyCanuck]

A suggestion for taxpayers:
Go to your local stationary supply store and order up a rubber stamp with the word "SUCKER" in 1 inch high letters. Now ink it on a red inkpad and stamp your forehead with same.

Investigators: Federal Employees Charged Millions in Questionable Expenses on Credit Cards

By HOPE YEN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal employees charged millions of dollars for Internet dating, tailor-made suits, lingerie, lavish dinners and other questionable expenses to their government credit cards over a 15-month period, congressional auditors say.

A report by the Government Accountability Office, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, examined spending controls across the federal government following reports of credit-card abuse at departments including Defense, Homeland Security and Veterans Affairs.

The review of card spending at more than a dozen departments from 2005 to 2006 found that nearly 41 percent of roughly $14 billion in credit-card purchases, whether legitimate or questionable, did not follow procedure - either because they were not properly authorized or they had not been signed for by an independent third party as called for in federal rules to deter fraud.

For purchases over $2,500, nearly half - or 48 percent - were unauthorized or improperly received.

Out of a sample of purchases totaling $2.7 million, the government could not account for hundreds of laptop computers, iPods and digital cameras worth more than $1.8 million. In one case, the U.S. Army could not say what happened to computer items making up 16 server configurations, each of which cost nearly $100,000.

SNIP

Among the expenditures cited in the report:

-An Agriculture Department employee fraudulently wrote 180 convenience checks for more than $642,000 to a live-in boyfriend over a six-year period. The money was used for gambling, car and mortgage payments, dinners and retail purchases that went unnoticed until USDA's inspector general received a tip from a whistle-blower. The employee, who pleaded guilty to embezzlement and tax fraud charges, was sentenced last year to 21 months in prison and ordered to repay the money.

-U.S. Postal Service workers separately billed more than $14,000 to government credit cards for Internet dating services and a dinner at a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Orlando, Fla., for 81 people at a cost of $160 each for steaks and crab. The dinner bill also included more than 200 appetizers and more than $3,000 worth of wine and brand-name liquor such as Courvoisier, Belvedere and Johnny Walker Gold.


Sorry, forgot to add the link, here it is: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/G/GOVERNMENT_CREDIT_CARDS?SITE=INKEN&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

[MercutioATC]

1. Something to note:

I have a government credit card. Regulations state that I am only permitted to use it for food, lodging, and travel expenses.

If I charge anything not related to official travel, I could be disciplined.


HOWEVER...The way the payment of charges works is that the bill comes to ME. I have to pay for the charges and then file for reimbursement from the government. If it's not a permissible charge, I won't be reimbursed.

So the issue is this: Yes, some federal employees are misusing their government credit cards. Yes, if they default on the payments, the federal government will have to pick up the tab. No, they should not be doing this...

...but, for the most part, we the taxpayers are not "paying for Ipods and suits".

[jmowreader]

2. It still beats the SHIT out of what we had before

We had:

travel vouchers and advance TDY payments, for official travel...keep EVERY receipt, record EVERY move you made, track EVERY mile you drove or You Were In Deep Shit. The halls of Leavenworth are lined with people who fucked up their travel vouchers, or so they tell me

and

the Self Service Supply Center, which sold crap at double-inflated prices. Try $67 for a lantern that didn't work, or $12 for a ream of yellow paper that was SUPPOSED to be white.