Crow Indian leaders blamed US officials for “gross mismanagement” of tribal money after investigators said the Montana tribe could not account for almost US$13 million intended for improvements to water systems.
Crow chairman Alvin “A.J.” Not Afraid said in a statement on Thursday that he was working to change a system that allows federal and tribal officials to “squander” the tribe’s money.
“Program by program we are cleaning up decades of mismanagement between these governments,” Not Afraid said.
The statement also deflected some blame onto the US Bureau of Reclamation and a tribal subcontractor.
That conflicts with the findings of a US Department of the Interior inspector general’s audit released on Tuesday.
It said the tribe misused US$4.8 million and can not fully account for US$7.8 million paid to subcontractors and vendors.
The audit faulted the bureau for not watching the tribe closely enough and failing to ensure the US$4.8 million went into the proper account.
However, investigators did not accuse the bureau of mismanagement and most of their report addressed accounting problems within the tribe.
Bureau head of public affairs Theresa Eisenman said the agency was working to reconcile the accounting problems and adding financial controls to prevent a recurrence.
The money at issue was intended for upgrades to a water system under a US$460 million settlement reached in 2011 with the US government over the tribe’s historical water rights claims.
The tribe said it intends to repay any costs that are “inconsistent” with the water settlement.
The audit examined contracts dating back to October 2014, including more than two years during which the tribal government was led by former chairman Darrin Old Coyote.
Old Coyote has denied responsibility.
It was the third time in recent years the US government has raised questions about the tribe’s handling of money. Those cases involve a combined US$29 million, including the water funds and money for transportation projects.
Bureau spokesman Tyler Johnson said agency officials requested the audit after they had trouble verifying work and documentation on the water projects.
Johnson said the problems are not anticipated to delay the work, which is expected to be completed in about 2030.
A timeline provided by Johnson said that US$12.8 million transferred to the tribe was put into the wrong account in August last year.
Johnson said the tribe was notified within a day.
In September last year, the tribe moved US$8 million into the correct account, according to the agency timeline.
The remaining US$4.8 million went to “business expenses unrelated to the contracts,” according to investigators.
Tribal officials did not immediately respond to questions about those expenses and Johnson said the bureau has no way to know how the money was spent.
It was unclear what happened to the US$7.8 million distributed to subcontractors and vendors.
Federal officials are trying to determine whether those payments went toward appropriate project costs.
The tribe singled out one subcontractor — Bartlett & West — for alleged, unspecified “invoicing irregularities.”
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday declared martial law in an unannounced late night address broadcast live on YTN television. Yoon said he had no choice but to resort to such a measure in order to safeguard free and constitutional order, saying opposition parties have taken hostage of the parliamentary process to throw the country into a crisis. "I declare martial law to protect the free Republic of Korea from the threat of North Korean communist forces, to eradicate the despicable pro-North Korean anti-state forces that are plundering the freedom and happiness of our people, and to protect the free
A string of rape and assault allegations against the son of Norway’s future queen have plunged the royal family into its “biggest scandal” ever, wrapping up an annus horribilis for the monarchy. The legal troubles surrounding Marius Borg Hoiby, the 27-year-old son born of a relationship before Norwegian Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s marriage to Norwegian Crown Prince Haakon, have dominated the Scandinavian country’s headlines since August. The tall strapping blond with a “bad boy” look — often photographed in tuxedos, slicked back hair, earrings and tattoos — was arrested in Oslo on Aug. 4 suspected of assaulting his girlfriend the previous night. A photograph
‘GOOD POLITICS’: He is a ‘pragmatic radical’ and has moderated his rhetoric since the height of his radicalism in 2014, a lecturer in contemporary Islam said Abu Mohammed al-Jolani is the leader of the Islamist alliance that spearheaded an offensive that rebels say brought down Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and ended five decades of Baath Party rule in Syria. Al-Jolani heads Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in Syria’s branch of al-Qaeda. He is a former extremist who adopted a more moderate posture in order to achieve his goals. Yesterday, as the rebels entered Damascus, he ordered all military forces in the capital not to approach public institutions. Last week, he said the objective of his offensive, which saw city after city fall from government control, was to
The US deployed a reconnaissance aircraft while Japan and the Philippines sent navy ships in a joint patrol in the disputed South China Sea yesterday, two days after the allied forces condemned actions by China Coast Guard vessels against Philippine patrol ships. The US Indo-Pacific Command said the joint patrol was conducted in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone by allies and partners to “uphold the right to freedom of navigation and overflight “ and “other lawful uses of the sea and international airspace.” Those phrases are used by the US, Japan and the Philippines to oppose China’s increasingly aggressive actions in the
RSS