The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection is urging fishing companies to pay back nearly half of all their federal covid-19 aid because it was wrongly allocated, it said a letter from the Office of the State Comptroller.
In its rush to disburse $14.4 million, the Department of Environmental Protection failed to thoroughly review the applications, sometimes missing prominent red flags, according to a letter sent to the agency Tuesday by Kevin D. Walsh, the acting state comptroller. sent.
The vetting was so sloppy, Mr. Walsh noted, that 25 percent of the awards examined lacked the necessary documentation. Nearly 40 percent of the 117 applicants were made “more than full,” Walsh wrote — that is, the prizes they received were greater than the losses claimed by a sample pool that included fish processors and dealers and recreational companies such as charter boats. .
“Receiving and processing applications and distributing funds in a timely manner were critical to the success of the fisheries program, but the work is not done when the funds are distributed,” Mr Walsh wrote to Sean Moriarty, a deputy commissioner for environmental protection. Mr. Moriarty’s department “plans to contact recipients to recoup approximately $7 million,” Mr. Walsh noted.
Some applications immediately caught the attention of auditors a previous review the results of which led to a broader examination in March 2022. The auditor found overpayments as high as $892,653. In one case, $378,702 was paid despite a lack of documentation.
According to the letter, the environmental service has already given more training to its staff regarding the awarding of subsidies.
While companies were not required to document their earnings, they signed affidavits confirming truthful answers. If the applicants don’t return the money, he said, New Jersey taxpayers may have to cover the costs to the federal government.
In all, Congress authorized $4.26 billion in spending in response to a pandemic that killed 1.1 million people in the United States and brought the economy to a near standstill. While the aid boosted healthcare, enabled schools to teach remotely and paid millions of unemployed workers, it also proved ripe for waste, fraud and abuse.
In March, the IRS said it was close to prosecuting 1,000 cases of Covid-related tax fraud and money laundering totaling $3.2 billion. Incorrect unemployment benefits according to a February estimate by the Government Accountability Office, which serves as Congress’s investigative arm, $60 billion alone may have been raised.
In the New Jersey issue, Governor Philip D. Murphy asked Mr. Walsh’s staff in June 2020 to review what would total $6.24 billion in coronavirus relief money.
The Murphy government has done so ever since 88 reports issued compiled by accountants. Most reviews found no shortcomings or minor flaws that could be easily corrected. However, some have discovered overpayments, awards to ineligible applicants, and questionable paperwork.
“My expectation would be that this could go on for another decade or more, that state and local governments will have to account for how and why they spent the funds entrusted to them,” Mr Walsh said. spent a lot of money.”