State Auditor Shad White issued the following statement.
State
Auditor Shad White has released his plan to audit over $1.25 billion
sent to Mississippi as part of the CARES Act, the COVID-19 federal
stimulus money. The five-part plan is meant to prevent fraud in
Mississippi.
“With
this unprecedented crush of funds comes an opportunity to steal,” said
Auditor White. “I have no doubt some will try. Those folks tempted to
defraud the taxpayers need to know one thing, though:
we are watching.”
The
Auditor’s CARES Act response plan began as the stimulus bill was being
drafted in Washington, DC, and continued while the Mississippi
Legislature determined how the money would be appropriated.
Auditor White’s plan includes the following:
·
Audit
staff identified the state government agencies receiving the money by
reading and researching federal and state legislation and surveying
state agencies.
·
Auditors created a new website,
www.osa.ms.gov/covid19, so Mississippians can see how and where the stimulus money is spent. The site is live today.
·
Auditors
have divided the stimulus spending into four “buckets”: education
money; money spent by the Mississippi Development Authority and the
Mississippi Department of Employment Security;
money for emergency supplies and healthcare; and the state’s broadband
spending. Three private CPA firms will audit three of the buckets of
money, and the Auditor’s office will handle one bucket, in addition to
the regular work of the office.
·
Investigators at the Auditor’s office will handle any criminal allegations of fraud or misspending involving stimulus funds.
·
The
Technical Assistance Division at the Auditor’s office will answer
questions about the proper way to spend stimulus money. The attorneys
and CPAs in this division have already begun
providing guidance to government officials across the state to ensure the CARES Act money is spent appropriately on the front end.
“This
stimulus represents one of the three biggest challenges to the
Auditor’s office in the last thirty years (Katrina and auditing the 2009
stimulus money are the other two),” said White. “What
makes this challenge uniquely difficult is that Congress demanded the
money be spent so quickly. Every cost has to be incurred no later than
December 30. But the staff at the Office of the State Auditor have
achieved great results over the last year, and we
stand ready to meet this challenge, too.”
21 comments:
He will be on this like white on rice.
What do you bet some executive directors of some agencies just lost their lunch? Or suddenly broke out in cold sweats? Hope you CYA'D pretty well. Shad ain't playing.....
Is it just me or is that pie chart on the covid site way off? Example: Department of mental health received $1.4M compared to the $240M that the development authority got... but mental health is the largest represented part of the graph. That graph makes no sense at all.
Also, why is DFA listed 4 separate times totaling $225M instead of 1? Deception? And why is the development authority getting the largest share? What do they have to do with Covid?
Lots of questions here.
"Suspected fraud can be reported..."
Well, Shad, there is a rumor that three private CPA firms are each auditing some sort of huge trough - I think that is the right word - of tax money, and, well...Mississippi...private CPA firms...wink-wink-nudge-nudge, need anyone say any more? Maybe if someone honked a Horne or something?
SIC 'EM, TIGER!
By the time our "leaders" get through paying themselves with this money, and diverting it to their cronies and campaign donors to "administer" and "audit" and "advertise," there isn't going to be anything left for the lowly taxpayers who support their parasitic asses. It's TANF all over again, except this time they at least learned to use some of the money to hire lawyers - on the front end - to make it all legal.
I'll this and no more: If Phil Bryant and his daughter's names show up, follow the hell out of that rabbit trail til it ends.
" Auditors have divided the stimulus spending into four “buckets”: education money; money spent by the Mississippi Development Authority and the Mississippi Department of Employment Security"
Employment Security should be very interesting.
The "Emergency Unemployment" funds doled out to every warm body ( lying about loosing their job because of Katrina) created epic fraud.
And the statewide Katrina effect was like a little silent fart compared to this Covid mess.
Here's a hint of where you can start -
Look at Trey Lamar's grant to the Tate Board of Supervisors (and his father as BOS attorney who will make a big fee out of the deal) to pay for the COVID expenses of their hospital. Of course Shad should look at those expenses that were used to justify this payoff since the hospital has been closed since 2018.
Is looking at the appropriators something that Shad will be willing to tackle, since he didn't want to look at the top floor of the Sillers Building while his mentor was occupying the space.
wonder how our much current "leaders" the speaker, lt gov and Gov have hidden away in addition to their SLURP retirement AND unused campaign money. heard Gunn has 400.000 plus...not surprising he wrote the reform bill, knows where backdoors are.....
Can't wait to hear all of the Corona Virus public service announcements on SuperTalk.
Nobody will take home more surplus campaign money that Phil Bryant (although that is a bit off topic here)
Hire Deppity Pheel to audit the office supplies. Count the printer cartridges and reams of paper and whatnot.
Don't want them gubmint workers to start thinking that a culture of corruption will ever be tolerated in Mississippi!
Taxpayers want to get their money's worth!
When I hear someone say shad . . . I think of bait fish.
I wonder if the three private CPA firms are doing pro bono work?
Shad is a joke. He is nothing more than a puppet appointed by the former Governor to do his bidding. Bryant and others have tried to make millions using others as pawns. Shad White has played right into their hand. Shad is by all reports a good person, but he’s overplayed his hand in recent months and “politics” will eat him up. His political career will end before it truly begins.
Shad sold his soul to Butler Snow and Phil Bryant. Good luck with that.
By all reports the Auditor’s Office has overstepped on a major high profile “audit and investigation” recently that will have serious repercussions. It’s been stated that the Auditor’s Office “documents and proves everything”. This may not be the case. Me thinks life for the Auditor himself will get very interesting, very soon.
Shad has covered up for Phil from Day 1. Follow the money.
You can always tell when a good government guy gets too close.
Shad called some strikes and now those who stand to get thrown out are calling time out.
Even veiled threats stated here....which can be subpoenaed by the way.
Keep up the threats.
"Even veiled threats stated here....which can be subpoenaed by the way."
Yeah, hit 'em with a subpoena douches tuchus...
For those not well-versed in legal terms, that's when you issue a subpoena to Google demanding that it reveal who offered an opinion on an online forum that your elected-official client is a douche and you get it shoved up your tuchus. And sanctioned. And made fun of. And, of course, called a douche on all sorts of online forums.
Just turn your findings over to the Feds and let them prosecute.
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