Post by Shadow on Feb 14, 2006 13:01:20 GMT -5
Sierra Times
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer Mon Feb 13, 4:22 PM ET
WASHINGTON - The government squandered millions of dollars in Katrina disaster aid, including handing $2,000 debit cards to people who gave phony Social Security numbers and used the money for such items as a $450 tattoo, auditors said Monday.
Federal money also paid for $375-a-day beachfront condos and 10,777 trailers that were stuck in mud and unusable.
Overcharges, poor accounting and abuses will take "months or years" to rectify, the Government Accountability Office and the Homeland Security Department's inspector general concluded in preliminary reports on how billions of dollars in taxpayer money is being spent.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency recognizes it "made many, many mistakes," and is working on improvement, said Homeland Security inspector general Richard Skinner. "But they're not where they should be. In some cases, the government will have little legal recourse to recoup payments to contractors for payments."
Separately, the Justice Department said Monday that federal prosecutors had filed fraud, theft and other charges against 212 people accused of scams related to Gulf Coast hurricanes.
By HOPE YEN, Associated Press Writer Mon Feb 13, 4:22 PM ET
WASHINGTON - The government squandered millions of dollars in Katrina disaster aid, including handing $2,000 debit cards to people who gave phony Social Security numbers and used the money for such items as a $450 tattoo, auditors said Monday.
Federal money also paid for $375-a-day beachfront condos and 10,777 trailers that were stuck in mud and unusable.
Overcharges, poor accounting and abuses will take "months or years" to rectify, the Government Accountability Office and the Homeland Security Department's inspector general concluded in preliminary reports on how billions of dollars in taxpayer money is being spent.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency recognizes it "made many, many mistakes," and is working on improvement, said Homeland Security inspector general Richard Skinner. "But they're not where they should be. In some cases, the government will have little legal recourse to recoup payments to contractors for payments."
Separately, the Justice Department said Monday that federal prosecutors had filed fraud, theft and other charges against 212 people accused of scams related to Gulf Coast hurricanes.