The Washington Post posted an article that talked about a Federal Jury indicting a former General Services Administration official with charges of fraud. Jeffrey E. Neely, the Western Regions Commissioner, faces criminal charges due to the fact that the grand jury indicted him on five counts of fraudulence. Neely tried to get reimbursement for his personal travel expenses and other expenses by submitting false claims and saying it was for government business. He was at the center of the scandal in the Las Vegas conference and the details of the trip came to attention with a 2012 inspector general’s review. In April 2012, GSA had placed Neely on leave and in May he left; another GSA Administrator Martha Johnson resigned and two deputies were fired after the scandal. When Neely was called to testify before he invoked the Fifth Amendment and then he did not show up to his hearing with the House of Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. He is supposed to make a court appearance in October, and if he is convicted he will get up to five years in prison and will have to pay at least $25,000 for each count.
The relevance this event holds to our government class is that even a former GSA official is not above the law and that he still needs to pay for the crimes he has committed. Former GSA Inspector General Brian Miller thinks that Neely has abused the trust given to him. Something like this sets a bad example for others in the agency and leads to the people’s distrust. The GSA is an independent agency of the U.S. Government which helps support and manage the basics of federal agencies, which is a type of checks and balance. The article also talks about the process of indicting and convicting a GSA official by the Federal Jury, and Neely’s right and use of the Fifth Amendment.
No comments:
Post a Comment