Some former officials of the Oklahoma’s Department of Education used secret bank accounts to spend more than $2 million on such things as beer, wine, food and entertainment for a decade, according to an investigative audit released Wednesday by Oklahoma Auditor & Inspector Gary Jones, the Associated Press reports. The 39-page audit, requested by Superintendent of Schools Janet Barresi, alleges the department operated a “slush fund” that allowed former Education Department officials to spend money over a 10-year period from unknown accounts that were shielded from government oversight and public scrutiny.
“These off-book and unauthorized accounts allowed OSDE officials to pay, at a single event, $2,600 for 85 bottles of wine and 3 kegs of beer and $5,700 for food items including a ‘chocolate fountain,’ ‘Maryland crab cakes,’ ‘mini beef wellingtons,’ and ‘smoked salmon mousse in a puff pastry,’ without following any of the requirements normally associated with government expenditures,” the audit states…
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