Audit Finds Widespread Credit Card Abuse

Washington ~ The Government Accountability Office has outlined 13 recommendations to two federal budgeting agencies in an attempt to place stronger controls on the free-wheeling spending being charged to government credit cards. The action comes after an audit found widespread abuse of credit cards issued to federal employees.

A new GAO audit has found that over a 15-month period, nearly 41 percent of credit card purchases violated procedure in some way. The credit cards frequently served as personal lines of credit, auditors say, with federal workers posting charges for such items as Internet dating, tailor-made suits and lavish dinners costing more than $150 dollars per head.

Among some of the examples reported by the GAO was an Agricultural Department employee who paid $642,000 to a live-in boyfriend. That money was apparently used for gambling and car and mortgage payments, among other things.

At the U.S. Postal Service workers expensed $14,000 on Internet dating and a Ruth's Chris Steakhouse dinner for 81 people.

The Pentagon tab has $77,000 for clothing, accessories and sporting goods. Among the charges were $45,000 at Brooks Brothers and other high-end stores that make custom suits.

And a State Department employee spent $360 on lingerie at Seduccion Boutique supposedly to be used for jungle training in Ecuador.

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