Huh? The Inspector General at the Department of the Interior is nettled by the Justice Department's refusal to prosecute two employees at the Minerals Management Service who traded favors with oil companies. DOJ declined to comment.
Earl Devaney, Interior's inspector general, sounds a little irritated with the Secretary of the Interior, too. In testimony yesterday before the House Natural Resources Committee, Devaney expressed his frustration about the refusal to prosecute two of the employees.
"'I would have liked to see a more aggressive approach,' Devaney said of the Justice decision not to charge Smith and Denett. He said Justice officials "were aware" of his desire to have the pair prosecuted.
"Devaney did not testify about the details of the dispute with Justice. Sources familiar with the matter said his office removed some of its people from the Abramoff case in protest. On Tuesday, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) sent a letter to the attorney general, asking why Smith and Denett were not prosecuted and asking that charges be filed against them.
"Sources with knowledge of the case said a possible medical condition might have been a factor in the decision not to charge Denett. She told investigators she was going through a 'very stressful personal issue' at the time of the alleged wrongdoing.
"Justice spokeswoman Laura Sweeney declined to comment on the case yesterday. 'The Department of Justice makes prosecutorial decisions based on the facts and the law,' she said. "That policy was followed in this instance."
"Devaney also testified yesterday that it is 'probable' that his office would have found that taxpayers lost royalty revenue because of the scandal, but that investigators were hampered by contract files that were in "terrible shape" and because a group of Chevron employees refused to be interviewed."Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne told the committee he was assured that the 'behavior described in these reports no longer exists in these programs.' He said the ethics office at the royalty program would be expanded."
McClatchy has this:
"Although his investigation is closed, Devaney said he felt that it wasn't complete, partly because Chevron had hired lawyers for six employees implicated in the scandal who later refused to be interviewed by the inspector general. A former Shell employee also declined to cooperate. Devaney charged that Chevron, Shell, Gary-Williams Energy Corp. and Hess Corp. gave gifts to RIK staffers. ...
"Republicans on the House committee downplayed the scandal as an isolated problem involving few employees.
"It isn't the first time that the Interior Department has been criticized for its handling of royalty collections. During the Clinton administration, Interior officials failed to catch a loophole in leases that allowed oil companies to escape paying billions of dollars in royalties. The Bush administration didn't close that loophole for several years.
"Last week, McClatchy reported that senior Justice Department officials had blocked the U.S. attorney in Colorado from supporting a whistleblower's suit last year, jeopardizing the government's prospects for recovering as much as $40 million from a major oil company for alleged underpayments of royalties."
