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Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Auditors looking at credit card spending at the Montgomery County planning agency are examining several technology purchases that appear to have been authorized by Planning Director Rollin Stanley in violation of agency procedures, but they have found no evidence of illegal activity, a top agency official said.
Oscar S. Rodriguez, executive director of the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, which oversees the Montgomery and Prince George's County parks and planning agencies, said Monday that auditors are trying to figure out how much money is involved.
"I don't want to leave the impression that something was stolen," he said. "No one believes that. But there are rules and regulations for how you use the cards, and if you consistently don't follow them, you lose your right to the credit card."
Rodriguez said that during the probe, which began in April, officials took back the credit card of Henry Mobayeni, a high-ranking technology official who works for Stanley. Stanley also surrendered his card. Mobayeni's card was used to make some of the purchases that are under scrutiny.
Last Thursday, Stanley wrote a check to the agency to cover about $600 in challenged expenses, including meals, alcohol and about $150 in sales taxes that he paid when buying office furniture. The furniture should have been a tax-free purchase, and the agency does not reimburse employees if they erroneously pay sales tax. On July 31, Stanley repaid the agency $626 for personal cellphone calls.
Stanley said the technology spending under scrutiny is limited to an $800 emergency purchase of a computer system security firewall. Rodriguez said Monday that the problem is bigger than that and includes other technology purchases, none of which appear to have been made using proper contracts.
Rodriguez said Stanley also needs to provide documentation that Verizon has agreed to withdraw a $4,000 bill for the use of a computer aircard -- a device that provides wireless Internet access -- that Stanley apparently kept running for days. Late Monday, Mobayeni received written confirmation from Verizon that the company would rescind the charge.
Valerie Berton, a spokeswoman for the Montgomery planning agency, said Mobayeni, Stanley and Alison Davis, Mobayeni's direct supervisor, "have no concerns about our [information technology] spending. In all of our IT spending, we review everything very carefully to ensure that all of our purchases are properly executed."
Rodriguez, whose comments were made in response to a Washington Post article Saturday that said Stanley was facing scrutiny, challenged an assertion by Stanley that the commission had caused a four-month delay in resolving issues raised in the audit. Rodriguez said that under agency rules, Stanley is required to come up with a list of reimbursable items for the bi-county commission's finance office and had not done so until recently, after he was pressed repeatedly by agency officials to settle his accounts.
Stanley has been Montgomery's planning director for 18 months. He is paid $179,400 a year.
Rodriguez said the audit, being conducted by internal auditor Abinet Belachew and his staff, should be completed in the fall. The audit began after outside auditors at the accounting firm Clifton Gunderson advised the agency to tighten its internal auditing procedures.