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B-261312 1 (1995-02-05)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptacbu0001 and id is 1 raw text is: 




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

                Office of the General Counsel







                B-261312


                February 5, 1995


                Steve E. Turner
                Director, Defense Finance
                and Accounting Service
                Department of Defense
                Kansas City, Missouri 64197-0001

                Dear Mr. Turner:

                This responds to your request that we grant relief, under our authority in 31 U.S.C.
                § 3527(c), to Shirley Ibach, Defense Accounting Officer, Marine Corps Air Station
                (MCAS), El Toro, California, from liability for four improper payments totalling
                $13,204. For the reasons stated below, we grant relief. We also grant relief to the
                cashier, LCpl. Miguel Muniz, who actually made the improper payments.

                The improper payments occurred on February 19, 1993, as a result of a fraudulent
                scheme by Pvt. James Burks representing himself as a Sgt. Thomas Campbell. The
                improper payments were made after Pvt. Burks presented four sets of travel orders,
                for $3,301 each, to the cashier in the finance office at MCAS El Toro, and explained
                that he and three other Marine sergeants were temporarily in the Los Angeles and
                San Diego areas participating in training activities. Pvt. Burks stated that he was
                the only one of the four allowed to leave the training sessions and that he was
                responsible for retrieving all four travel advances. The cashier advised Pvt. Burks
                that the checks would not be ready until later in the day and that he would need to
                have a written authorization from the other sergeants if he planned to pick up their
                advances.

                That afternoon, Pvt. Burks returned and produced a handwritten letter bearing the
                purported signatures of the other three marines granting him the authority to
                retrieve their checks. After presenting the letter, a forged armed forces
                identification card and Sgt. Campbell's social security number to the cashier,
                Pvt. Burks was allowed to sign for the four checks. The cashier examined the


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