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Pentagon
Credit Card Scandal Probed
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| U.S.
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Victoria
Clarke, right.. |
WASHINGTON,
March 19 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) – U.S. Defense
Secretary Donald Rumsfeld ordered an investigation into unauthorized
credit card use in his department. This came after Congress found
that government plastic paid for silicon breast implants, among
other things, news agencies reported Tuesday.
"We
will make absolutely sure that we do account for the best use of
every dollar," Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke said
Monday, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).
"And
I can say, with some certainty, we believe people should be held
accountable for what they do with the taxpayers' dollars," she
added.
Clarke
promised that the department comptroller would get to the bottom of
the scandal.
The
move follows the Pentagon's public embarrassment last week, when a
group of investigators led by Republican Senator Charles Grassley
found that some defense department employees used their government
credit cards to pay for personal trips, shopping sprees and, in one
case, breast augmentation surgery.
According
to Grassley, who testified before a House subcommittee last week,
one Navy employee used a department-issued credit card to purchase
11,551 dollars in Christmas gifts at Macy's, Nordstrom and other
department stores.
Not
only did the employee avoid any reprimand, but she was given a
promotion last October and was never asked to repay the debt, the
investigators said.
"A
person who holds up a liquor store and takes 500 dollars cash can go
to jail for 15 years, but if you use DOD plastic to steal 12,000
from the taxpayers as this employee allegedly did, you get a
promotion," fumed the senator. "That's not right!"
In
another case, a mid-level Pentagon manager used his credit card to
court a waitress at Hooter's, a restaurant that features scantily
clad staff, and even used it to foot the bill for her breast
enlargement operation.
Although
the congressional probe conducted by the General Accounting Office
focused on just 300 transaction made by members of two Navy units
based in San Diego, California, it yielded more than a half million
dollars in fraudulent and abusive purchases, according to Grassley.
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