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B-271895 1 (1996-09-03)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacxab0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 


United States
General Accounting Office
Washington, D.C. 20548

Office of the General Counsel




B-271895


September  3, 1996



Sidney L. Kaplan
Chairman
Committee  of Inquiry Into Fiscal Irregularities
Department  of State

Dear Mr. Kaplan:

This is in response to your request that we grant relief from liability under 31 U.S.C.
§ 3527 to Mr. John-Baptiste Diamesso, Class B Cashier, at the American Embassy in
Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo, for the physical loss of $4,100 from his account.
As explained in further detail below, we grant relief .

Sometime  in August 1994, the United States Secret Service confiscated $1,500 in
counterfeit notes from a State Department employee travelling on temporary duty to
the United States. Brazzaville Embassy records confirmed that the notes had been
given to the employee by Mr. Diamesso. A  follow-up investigation by Secret Service
special agents at Brazzaville determined that the cashier possessed an additional
$2,600 in counterfeit U.S. currency. It was later established that the counterfeit
notes had all been received from the American Embassy Regional Finance Office in
Kinshasa, Zaire, Brazzaville's usual source of supply for U.S. currency. The Secret
Service then found that a much larger amount of counterfeit currency was in the
possession of the Kinshasa Cashier. The Secret Service has determined that the 41
of Brazzaville's 100 dollar notes are super-dollars, extremely high quality
counterfeit notes which can only detected by expert forensic examination. These
notes easily pass visual and tactile inspection by experienced cashiers and cannot
be detected by most commercial  counterfeit detection machines.

After reviewing the reports of the investigation the Committee of Inquiry Into Fiscal
Irregularities, Department of State, determined that Mr. Diamesso was carrying out
his official duties when the incident occurred and was without fault regarding the
loss. He observed all requisite procedures for receipt, documentation and handling


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