Date Issued
Report Type
Investigation
External Entity
Departmentwide
Description
We investigated allegations that an official working in the U.S. Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Office of the Secretary was involved in several improprieties, namely—
- extending his official travel over weekends without authorization;
- receiving a hotel reimbursement for a personal trip in September 2014;
- upgrading his seat on a flight without prior approval;
- using his Government travel/purchase card to pay for personal taxi rides; and
- receiving business line authority on his Government credit card simply because he wanted to obtain Internet access during flights.
We did not find evidence of impropriety with the official’s travel or his September 2014 hotel reimbursement. We found that the official, citing a medical condition, did upgrade to an economy-plus seat on a flight in January 2015 without prior approval (DOI policy allows such upgrades, although they should be preapproved). We also confirmed that he had charged over $140 in personal taxi expenses on his Government credit card, but found that he reported the issue himself and had it corrected. Finally, the official acknowledged that he received business line authority so he could obtain in-flight Wi-Fi access; his business line authority was suspended after he inadvertently signed up for a Wi-Fi service that charged by the month.
Joint Report
No
Agency Wide
Yes
Oversight Report File