Why Hasn't DC Mayor Adrian Fenty fired Chief Financial Officer Natwar Ghandi?Today's Washington Post reported on a lackluster City Council hearing about DC's $50 million tax theft, a major felony. The embezzlement took place for years right under the nose of Natwar Ghandi, -- legally responsible for the D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue. For some as yet unexplained reason, Ghandi has escaped major public censure. The Washington Post has not called for his removal, instead running a piece about his new hires who supposedly are going to fix the problem. The Post ran a bigger investigative crusade to replace the director of the National Zoo.
What do you have to do to get fired in DC? I'm a DC property taxpayer myself, and just can't believe the city can't find a better-qualified person to run the tax department--than one who didn't account for some 50 million stolen tax dollars until they were gone. Money that has still not been recovered by Ghandi to date, believe it or not... To top it off, Ghandi recently had the chutzpah to report a $96 million budget shortfall. This was presented in the Post as a serious fiscal crisis. Memo to Post editors: I'd suggest Ghandi be forced to track down the missing $50 million on his way out the door. From the Post story:
Gandhi and two newly appointed aides, tax office director Stephen Cordi and internal investigations chief Robert Andary, laid out their strategy to strengthen internal controls. Their plan, however was mostly a rehash of previously announced reforms.As Bob Dole used to ask: Where's the outrage?
The one piece of news at the hearing came in a report delivered to the committee that said Gandhi's internal auditors conducted 52 investigations into alleged criminal wrongdoing last year among the agency's 1,200 employees. The investigations found eight reports of employees accepting gratuities, seven of theft or embezzlement, one of bribery, and one of drugs. The investigations resulted in one firing, four voluntary retirements and three suspensions, the report said, and the gratuities were returned to the senders.
The report did not, however, address the fact that the internal audit team never examined the real property tax refund department at the heart of the scandal. Evans did not ask about the report.
If DC Mayor Adrian Fenty doesn't want to appear to be part of the problem, he would do well to become part of the solution and find a replacement for Ghandi, asap.