Excertps from the Washington Post article:
... than $96 billion has been distributed or is currently available to states to rebuild houses and schools, repair damaged infrastructure and to provide shelter for hurricane victims, among other uses.
Washington also provided about $13 billion in tax relief, and has spent more than $7 billion to get New Orleans area's levees back to pre-storm levels. Another $7 billion will be spent on the flood-protection system.
The Senate Homeland Security Committee conducted an eight-month investigation that "uncovered massive and unacceptable fraud, waste and abuse of taxpayer dollars" including "$1 billion in improper and potentially fraudulent payments" by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and "millions of dollars in payments were paid in the name of individuals incarcerated in prisons."
The cases include a wide array of charges including bribery, making false claims with federal and state agencies, and even attempts to defraud the Red Cross — charities have donated nearly $4 billion, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
"Pretty much every program that provides disaster relief, we're seeing fraud," said David R. Dugas, a Justice spokesman with the Middle District of Louisiana, where about 125 hurricane-fraud charges have been reported — the second most in the country...
Meanwhile
Business as usual -- corruption on a breathtaking scale.
No comments:
Post a Comment