Dry Docking in Order for Luxury Boat, Overseas Travel

When federal law enforcement officials buy a $300,000 luxury boat and can’t document that it’s used for work, purchase 200 vehicles for a 172-person office, and spend $580,000 for international travel to places like Australia, Malaysia and Norway, with only 17 percent of the travel related to investigations, it’s time for a complete audit and someone to be held responsible.

Those expenditures were made by a law enforcement office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, according to the Inspector General that oversees the agency.  In response, in a letter released this week, I asked the Commerce Secretary to ensure a full accounting and appropriate discipline for the abusive spending and mismanagement.

The money that was spent came from an asset forfeiture fund comprised of money that was collected through administrative fines and penalties imposed with little oversight or judicial review.  Typically, asset forfeiture funds are created through the sale of assets seized as a result of their use in criminal activities.  The unusual nature of this fund has led to allegations of questionable conduct on the part of enforcement officers who had an incentive to impose exorbitant penalties and fines on fishermen.

As much as $96 million may have gone through this fund in the last five years, but the amount couldn’t be verified by the Inspector General because the books were in such disarray. 

So far, an audit has been ordered to determine the balance of the fund and expenditures in the last year.  But, nothing’s being done to fully account for what’s happened since 2005, and no one’s been held responsible for wrongdoing.

The public deserves to know the facts, and the abuse needs to be stopped.  If people aren't held accountable, and fired if needed, nothing’s likely to change.

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7356343n