Top law enforcers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration put a special focus for years on building up the agency's Asset Forfeiture Fund — a fund that recently held $8.4 million — even after officers had been drawing from it for "travel and purchases" without needing approval of higher-ups.
But last October, while investigators from the U.S. Department of Commerce Inspector General were examining the fund and finding it with weak "internal controls" as part of a larger probe of NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement, unregulated charges to the fund were abruptly canceled.
And a high-level management official said any future requests for use of the fund — built from the violation "fines" paid by fishermen — would be screened and submitted to headquarters for approval "on a case-by-case basis."
The history of meticulous attention to the growth of the fund and the belated creation of controls over its use are spotlighted through internal memos obtained by the Times.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The referenced files were also obtained by Saving Seafood. Click here to view a PDF of NOAA's Oct 2, 2009 cancellation of purchases of travel and expenses from the Asset Forfeiture Fund.
Read the complete story at The Gloucester Daily Times