A Nebraska Indian tribe is on the hot seat over being unable to account for how it spent $14 million in flood-assistance grants from the federal government.
Judicial Watch, the government watchdog that’s taken on government agencies time and time again for failing to comply with the Freedom of Information Act is reporting on a federal audit of the Omaha Tribe.
The audit described the tribe’s mishandling of the emergency money as “serious and pervasive” and found the tribe had contracted with itself to generate artificial profits to fabricate mandatory matching funds.
But Judicial Watch also learned the Federal Emergency Management Agency knew of the tribe’s “shady accounting practices” and still handed out money after the 2011 flooding of the Missouri River.
Instead of spending the money on eleven homes and a gas station damaged in the flooding, the tribe spent it on normal operating expenses, a bonus to its tribal-owned construction management company and unauthorized repairs to its old casino building, according to the audit.
The tribe could not provide adequate documentation for $13.9 million in costs and did not have invoices, contracts or even canceled checks to prove the work was done.
“Invoices, especially from tribal departments or tribal-owned companies, had vague or no descriptions of work performed so we could not determine what work the tribe performed,” stated the audit.
