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B-271608 1 (1996-06-21)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptaefe0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAO United States General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 Office of the General Counsel B-271608 June 21, 1996 David J. Bechtol Director for Field Support Defense Finance and Accounting Service Cleveland Center 1240 East Ninth Street Cleveland, Ohio 44199-2056 Dear Mr. Bechtol: This responds to your letter of March 20, 1996, concerning liability for $214,883.21 resulting from improper payments that appear to have been made between August 1993 and May 1994 at the U.S. Navy Personnel Support Activity Detachment (Detachment), Sigonella, Italy. Your letter characterizes the improper payments as (1) seventeen cases of dishonored checks, totalling $3,251.45, cashed by former Navy personnel, and (2) dishonored Italian lire checks, totalling $211,631.76, cashed by foreign nationals. Former Lt. Paul E. Sessions was the disbursing officer accountable for these funds when the improper payments were made. LTJG V.F. Milano is the disbursing officer currently responsible for this account; the amount of these improper payments is currently recorded as a deficiency in the account. You request that we deny relief from liability to former Lieutenant Sessions, grant relief to LTJG Milano, and remove the $214,883.21 deficiency from the account. As explained below, we fully agree with your characterizations of the loss and of former Lieutenant Sessions' actions, and accordingly, deny relief to him. LTJG Milano is not an accountable officer with respect to the improper payments, and relief is therefore unnecessary. Moreover, under these circumstances, the Secretary of Defense is authorized under 31 U.S.C. § 3530 to make the necessary adjustments to this account to remove the deficiency. We first address former Lieutenant Sessions' liability. At the time the dishonored checks were cashed by the Detachment's disbursing office, Lieutenant Sessions was the disbursing officer authorized to make payments from the Detachment's account, and in whose name the account was held. In response to questions raised about disbursing management at the Detachment, an Inventory Board was set up by the 1138621

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