Posted on 01/25/2013 6:27:54 PM PST by Brad from Tennessee
Documents from an inspector general’s probe last June allege that a top-level USAID official interfered with an investigation of possible contract rigging by the foreign-aid agency’s general counsel.
The alleged obstruction occurred while the inspector general’s office was investigating whether former USAID general counsel Lisa Gomer had worked with former chief financial officer David Ostermeyer to design a contract that would go to Ostermeyer after he retired.
The inspector general’s office said in an internal memo that Deputy Administrator Donald Steinberg, who ranks No. 2 at the U.S. Agency for International Development, told investigators that their efforts to gather information were “inappropriate” and that the case should have been taken to the front office before going to the Justice Department. . .
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The USAID spokesman also said that the agency terminated the solicitation Gomer had allegedly tailor-made for Ostermeyer when the agency learned of it.
USAID reassigned Gomer to a new post on Aug. 20, and she resigned from USAID on Jan. 13, Bazbaz said. The former general counsel’s last day with the agency will be Feb. 9, the spokesman said.
To what department does USAID belong ? : State
Who is in charge of the State Dept ? : Hillary Clinton
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case.
[Gomer, a Harvard Law School classmate of President Obama’s, is an international development veteran, having worked for the United Nations and been a consultant to the the United Nations Development Program. . .No one at USAID appears to know what’s going on. There were even suspicions that her reassignment was being kept under wraps prior to the election. (Of course everyone suspected everything was kept under wraps until after the election. Besides, weeks after the election, it’s still under wraps.)]
Recall, Mrs Clinton replied “I don’t recall” approx 250 times when under oath for Travelgate,
The bit I know is that USAID doles out significant piles of money to people who are supposed to spend it on certain things and not others. They hire companies to audit the expenditures. Those companies hire accountants who are not very talented. Those accountants make competitive salaries, but get very high bonuses when “things go well”.
bttt
USAID is only as honest as those who are in charge at US Missions abroad. Having said that, the organization is corrupted by those who use their positions for personal comfort, both with housing perks and TDY monies for travel. Once someone is at the Grade of FS2/1 or GS14/15 they can manage to take official travel to the tune of 50-60K annually and be off from work for official duties elsewhere about 30-45 days a year, then add on the annual leave used in conjunction and you get the drift. As for the doling out of Official Funds for program expenditures, think kickbacks, personal favors, etc. Our entire US Dept of State and USAID, along with other agencies seem to reward those who are at the top of each organization along with those they work with. As someone who served as both a Certifying Officer and Contracting Officer, I found it very difficult to question expenditures when dealing with this very management.
Thanks for the info. It is a system set up for at least a modest amount of corruption. The people who should be questioning expenditures have almost no incentive to do so and plenty of incentives not to.
The interference isn’t usual. Quid pro quo is normal in government. What’s unusual is that it was found out and acted upon and that we know about it.
We need a new department called the Department of International Affairs - then fire the entire State Department and rehire based on pro-American views and competency.
...investigating whether former USAID general counsel [and Obama law school classmate] Lisa Gomer had worked with former chief financial officer David Ostermeyer to design a contract that would go to Ostermeyer after he retired.
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