Grassley: SEC IG Report Shows Agency Needs to Correct Document Destruction Procedures
M E M O R A N D U M
To: Reporters and Editors
Re: SEC inspector general report on document destruction
Da: Tuesday, November 01, 2011
Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa today made the following comment on a report from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s inspector general on document destruction. Grassley has long conducted oversight of the agency to help make sure it fulfills its mission of protecting the investing public.
“When a whistleblower reported inappropriate document destruction at the SEC, the agency seemed to spend more time covering tracks and drafting a lawyered-up response than just following the law and otherwise using common sense. Even now, after a detailed inspector general review, it’s not clear why the SEC had an official policy to destroy a large category of documents. No one seems to know the rationale for the policy in the first place. The result is a messy situation that the SEC needs to clean up, using the guidance and recommendations in this report as a start. And next, the inspector general should conduct a separate audit of what was destroyed and the potential consequences on enforcement cases.”
