HARTFORD — An investigation into possible food-aid fraud by state employees has borne its first fruits — two dozen names will be sent to state department heads for disciplinary action.
http://liarcatchers.com/employee_investigations.html
Gov. Dannel Malloy announced Sunday an investigation was being launched into state employees who may have defrauded the D-SNAP food-aid program after tropical storm Irene.
By Wednesday, Malloy announced that 24 employees — out of a possible 800, according to Andrew McDonald, the governor’s general counsel — would be referred to their supervisors. Each could face termination.
As the Connecticut Mirror reported, Malloy said that, should fraud be confirmed, his administration would act “earnestly, quickly, swiftly and severely.”
If, when applying for aid through D-SNAP (Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) made available after tropical storm Irene, an applicant understated their income or overstated the number of dependents in order to obtain a higher level of aid, that would constitute fraud, according to the Malloy administration.
In all, 800 state employees obtained assistance through the federally funded program.
When the food-aid program was announced, thousands of state residents applied — nearly 75,000 people, as the Mirror reported — so many, in fact, that the Department of Social Services’ New Haven office overflowed.
“I need food, so I’m willing to wait until I get in there and if I don’t get in today I’ll come back tomorrow,” one city resident told the New Haven Register at the time.
Malloy told reporters Wednesday that his administration would focus on state employees first, though his general counsel, McDonald, told The Hartford Courant that the 24 names announced today were only the first batch.
