Reports

We investigated whether a Bureau of Land Management (BLM) field inspector accepted bribes from an oil and gas exploration company operating on an Indian reservation in exchange for allowing the company to do business on the reservation. We conducted this investigation jointly with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Our investigation found no evidence to corroborate the bribery allegations made against the BLM field inspector. Witnesses identified by the complainant did not corroborate the complainant’s statement, and the BLM field inspector denied the allegations.

Alleged Bribery of a BLM Field Inspector

We investigated allegations that an oil and gas company incorrectly adjusted oil and gas reporting and failed to apply the proper pricing for minerals produced from leases in New Mexico, potentially resulting in a loss of royalties. We determined that the alleged conduct occurred outside the 5-year statute of limitations for criminal conduct and would be appropriately addressed through administrative enforcement actions and orders. As a result, we referred the matter to the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR).

We investigated allegations that an oil and gas company improperly reported oil and gas production from Federal leases to the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR), which resulted in a loss of public mineral royalties. We found the company failed to properly report production and mineral royalties to ONRR as alleged, but we did not find the company intended to defraud the Government. The improper reporting occurred because the company did not provide adequate lease production information to the contractor it hired to perform the production and royalty reporting.