Investigative Reports

On March 2, 2017, the VA Office of Inspector General Administrative Investigations Division received allegations that Ms. [redacted] , former (resigned) Deputy Counsel, Office of the General Counsel (OGC), improperly received the higher locality pay for Los Angeles, CA, while she lived and worked in Phoenix, AZ. We found that Ms. [redacted] received about $6,500 in Los Angeles locality pay for 6 months while residing and reporting for duty in Phoenix.

The VA Office of Inspector General Administrative Investigations Division received an allegation that Dr. Gavin West, former (reassigned) Senior Medical Advisor to Dr. Thomas Lynch, Assistant Deputy Under Secretary for Health (ADUSH) for Clinical Operations, and a former (resigned) VA employee misused VA travel funds for personal rather than official business. We did not substantiate the allegation of a misuse of VA travel funds, and we will not discuss it further in this report.In reviewing Dr. West’s personnel records related to the original allegation, we found that Dr. West was improperly paid $19,800 for Temporary Quarters Subsistence Expenses (TQSE) in connection with a Permanent Change of Station (PCS) move that he did not execute. The TQSE was paid to Dr. West to relocate from his then duty station in Salt Lake City, UT to Washington, DC, after accepting a position as the Special Assistant to the ADUSH for Clinical Operations on September 22, 2013. Dr. West did not relocate nor did he repay VA for the TQSE. We also found that his annual salary was increased from $188,049 to $206,527 to make his “salary competitive with the market rate in the Washington DC Metro geographical region.” Because he did not relocate, this resulted in overpayments to Dr. West of over $55,000.

OIG investigated transaction irregularities on a Department of the Interior purchase card assigned to an employee at Nez Perce National Historic Park, National Park Service (NPS). The questionable purchases included a $17,000 charge at a pawn shop, two tuition payments at a local university, and purchases that appeared to have been structured to circumvent the micro purchase limit.We confirmed that the employee purchased art for the park museum from a pawn shop for $17,000 and, at the direction of a supervisor, made tuition payments for other employees on the DOI purchase card. We further determined those purchases were not for private gain, but the employee did admit to structuring those purchases and others to circumvent the micro purchase limit in violation of NPS policy. Finally, we found that the employee’s two supervisors were aware of his policy violations and took no corrective action. The employee and the two supervisors have all left the Department.

On January 1, 2018, an Amtrak executive retired following the release of our investigative report, which concluded that he violated company policy by accepting gifts from the owner of a company doing business with Amtrak as both a customer and vendor.

Section 11(d)(9) of the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, requires the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency to submit to Congress and the President an annual report on the activities of the Integrity Committee. For more informatoin about the Integrity Committee, please visit the link below.