Employees cashed in on Pentagon credit cards
By John Solomon
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Armed with 1.8 million credit cards, Pentagon employees went on a $9 billion shopping spree last year that congressional investigators found was filled with fraud.
Military personnel did personal shopping at Wal-Mart and The Home Depot, partied at Hooters and Bottoms Up nightclubs and charged personal items such as DVD players, computers and pet supplies to their government cards, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press.
Congress intends to make the materials public at a hearing Monday.
In the past two years alone, there have been more than 500 purchase-fraud cases filed involving military credit cards, according to information gathered by Sen. Charles Grassley's office. One bank company has been forced to write off $59 million in fraudulent debts from military cards.
The rapid proliferation of credit cards for Pentagon employees "is like giving people keys to the federal treasury," Grassley, R-Iowa, said yesterday.
"In the past, Pentagon employees needed a phony invoice to trigger a fraudulent government check, but that obstacle is gone," he said.
"Credit cards provide a shortcut to the cash pile."
Credit card fraud
Some military credit-card charges the Bank of America says it has had to write off:
A Marine sergeant ran up $20,000, then left the service — and the bill unpaid.
An Army soldier spent $3,100 on six visits to Hooters and Bottoms Up.
An Army reservist's wife went on a $13,000 shopping spree in Puerto Rico.
The widow of a deceased Navy man charged up $3,565.
The wife of an Air Force National Guardsman charged thousand of dollars for Internet gambling.
Reviews by Grassley; Rep. Steve Horn, R-Calif., chairman of the House Government Reform subcommittee on government efficiency; and the General Accounting Office (GAO) found the Pentagon has inadequate controls on the cards it issues for official purchases or travel and also is slow to respond to problems, even in the face of fraud.
Grassley said purchase credit cards, many with limits from $20,000 to $100,000, are being issued without credit checks on the employees receiving them, and purchases are not being checked for legitimacy.
The Pentagon, along with other federal agencies, began issuing credit cards to employees in the 1990s to make purchases more efficient. In 2000, the cards were used to make 10 million purchases and racked up $9 billion in debt.
Defense officials say the cards have significantly sped up purchases and eliminated red tape, and their value shouldn't be judged solely by instances of fraud. They promise to be responsive to problems that will be discussed at Monday's hearing.
"This administration, and specifically Secretary (Donald) Rumsfeld, has made fiscal responsibility a hallmark," Pentagon spokeswoman Susan Hansen said.
"We will have representatives attending the hearing so we can hear the committee's concerns, answer their questions and make sure that any concerns are fully addressed."
Documents from the Bank of America, which handles Pentagon travel credit cards, detail the case of a Marine sergeant who ran up $20,000 in charges, then left the service — and the bill unpaid.
The Marine's credit card for travel, issued in March 2000, was restricted because he had a questionable credit record. His bosses soon quadrupled its limit to $10,000, the documents show.
The bank issued a fraud warning in August 2000 after suspicious activity on the card, but the Marines raised the credit limit twice more to $25,000. The sergeant eventually made two cash withdrawals from the card totaling $8,500 over two months.
The Marine's credit card was finally revoked in February, and he left the service. The bank was forced to write off the debt as a loss.
Under its contract for travel cards, Bank of America isn't allowed to charge the government interest and must write off fraudulent purchases if it can't recover it from violators. The bank has written off $59 million in fraudulent debts involving more than 43,000 military-travel credit cards.
A GAO review of purchase cards for Navy personnel in San Diego documented five recent fraud cases involving at least $660,000 in personal purchases. They stretched as long as two years before being detected.
"Items that were purchased for personal use in these cases included home-improvement items from The Home Depot, numerous items from Wal-Mart, laptop computers, Palm Pilots, DVD players, an air conditioner, clothing, jewelry and other items such as eyeglasses, pet supplies and pizza," the GAO draft said.
Navy officials said they will dispute some of the GAO's conclusions at Monday's hearing and explain what actions they have taken to correct problems.
The GAO found San Diego naval authorities were slow to react in the face of fraud. For instance, the Navy still hasn't canceled all the credit-card numbers compromised in September 1999 when they showed up on a computer printout at a community-college library, it said.
Navy investigators believe at least 30 of the compromised credit cards were used by 27 suspects to make more than $27,000 in fraudulent purchases, the GAO draft said.
Copyright © 2001 The Seattle Times Company |
