From the Raleigh News and Observer (2/10/09): Outside auditors hired by Wake County following a spending scandal in its environmental services department last summer told commissioners Monday that after a sweeping review, they found no fraud.
However, when pressed by members of the county board, auditor Eddie Burke said that his firm did find about $16,000 of “potential fraud” in purchases for which there was no justification. But he said that spending was not classified as “fraud” in the final report because the Wake district attorney declined to pursue criminal charges in the case.
In a separate review, the county’s internal auditor found another $75,000 in spending which followed the county’s procurement rules but which was deemed to be of no legitimate business value. The outside auditor didn’t question those expenses, however, because the right signatures were on the right forms.
The audits were ordered after the June 2008 firing of Craig Wittig, director of the county’s recycling program. In the little more than two years he worked for the county, Wittig took at least 50 out-of-town trips — an average of two a month — including four visits to Walt Disney World and a whale-watching cruise off the coast of Maine.
He and five subordinates racked up $161,233 in travel costs and other expenses to credit cards issued by Wake County and paid for with public money. The purchases included pocket knives, music CDs, a hand-held GPS device, camping equipment and a novel about elves.
After the spending became public, Wittig’s boss, solid waste director James S. Reynolds, resigned. Reynolds had signed off on many of the questionable purchases.
On Monday, County Manager David Cooke stressed the new safeguards put in place after the scandal.
“We believe a number of those expenditures were flat out wrong,” Cooke said. “There was a breakdown at the employee level and the supervisor level.”
The county hired the accounting firm Cherry, Bekaert & Holland in July to review spending in the solid waste department, as well as purchases by employees in other county departments.
Though a computer disc containing the outside auditor’s findings was distributed to commissioners as part of their materials for Monday’s public meeting, the county’s public affairs staff said the information could not immediately be provided to the public.
The internal auditor’s findings, referenced during the public meeting, were also not provided.
Marshall Parrish, the county’s public affairs director, said the documents could not be released until the county attorney’s office reviewed them — a process she said could not be completed Monday.
Michael J. Tadych, an attorney for the N.C. Press Association, said Monday that such audits are public records under state law and should be released.
“It makes no difference whether the audit is internal or external in this instance,” Tadych said. “The report is a public record.”
Burke, the outside auditor, said his firm reviewed hundreds of purchases made by county employees that “didn’t look right” on paper, but when they investigated, it was concluded the charges were legitimate.
An example he gave was a Human Services worker who told an outside auditor she charged coffee at Starbucks on her government card for a domestic abuse victim. The employee said the victim wouldn’t meet at the county office for fear someone might see her and tell her husband.
Though the employee could provide no documentation to support her account, Burke said she was given the benefit of the doubt.
Some commissioners questioned Monday whether they got their money’s worth out of the audit, which cost about $150,000.
“To me, there was fraud involved,” Commissioner Paul Coble said. “If there was not, then we need to redefine what fraud is. … I came away from the audit thinking this was whitewashed.”
By Michael Biesecker, Staff Writer