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B-271896 1 (1997-03-04)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptafqb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: GAO United States General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 Office of the General Counsel B-271896 March 4, 1997 Sidney 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 Ms. Vilma Gautreau, Class B Cashier, at the American Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, for the unexplained loss of 119,036 Dominican Republic pesos, worth $15,835, from her account. As explained in further detail below, we grant relief because we agree with your finding that Ms. Gautreau's actions were not the proximate cause of this loss. As noted above, the exact cause and nature of this loss is not known despite an Embassy investigation following the discovery of the loss. What is known is that on April 28, 1992, an unannounced audit of Ms. Gautreau's cash account was conducted by the Embassy's Budget and Fiscal Officer, revealing a shortage of local currency funds worth $15,835. (The United Stated currency account did not have a shortage.) The audit consisted of a cash count of both the local and U.S. currencies, and a reconciliation of the paid vouchers, in-transit vouchers, and collections. The cash count was repeated a few days later, with no success at reconciling the shortage. Unfortunately, the budget officer departed for a planned vacation shortly after he discovered the loss and was not available to help the cashier in her efforts to reconcile the shortage. Upon returning from his vacation, the budget officer reported the shortage on June 9, 1992. Following a review of the situation, the Regional Administrative Management Center for the American Embassy, Federal District of Mexico, (RAMC) was not convinced that a shortage actually existed. RAMC advised the Embassy to limit cashier hours and activate an alternate cashier to receive consular receipts in order to alleviate the extremely heavy workload with which Ms. Gautreau had to deal. This recommendation was based, in part, on a prior fact-finding trip conducted between October 28 and November 8, 1991. (A disbursing official of RAMC conducted a fact finding trip to review the cashier functions at the American Embassy in Santo 1045226

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