A
recent U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General’s office
audit found DOT workers had misused travel cards by withdrawing
cash in excess of travel needs, making personal purchases or not
paying their bills on time.
The
audit identified 146 DOT employees who misused their cards or were
delinquent with their payments. “We reviewed over 12,000 charges
totaling about $1.7 million on these employees’ travel cards that
occurred during the audit period July 1, 2001, through June 30,
2002,” the IG’s report said.
About
$770,000 of the charges were for personal purchases or excess cash
and 22 of the 96 employees were delinquent in paying their bills.
Here
are some sample abuses: A Federal Railroad Administration employee
charged $15,295 for personal cable and satellite charges; A Maritime
Administration employee charged $8,600 for personal cash and airline
and hotel costs; and a Transportation Security Administration employee
charged $2,900 for personal cash and car rental, airline and hotel
costs.
In
all, the audit found 93 DOT employees charged about $407,000 for
personal goods or services and 48 withdrew about $361,000 in excess
cash over a one-year period. Twenty-two employees were delinquent
in paying their bills.
“In
response to our concerns, DOT issued a revised travel card policy,
which will strengthen oversight of the travel card program,” the
IG’s report said. “We referred 95 cases of misuse to our Office
of Investigations for further review and appropriate action.”
