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Last Updated: Oct 15, 2008 - 12:19:30 PM |
HONOLULU, Hawaii -- Bobby Maxwell kept a close eye on the oil industry
for more than 20 years as a government auditor. But he said the federal
agency he worked for is now a "cult of corruption" -- a claim backed up
by a recent government report.
Bobby Maxwell, a long-time auditor of the oil industry, says his former
agency is corrupt "top to bottom."
"I believe the management we were under was showing favoritism to the
oil industry," Maxwell told CNN.
Maxwell is referring to a tiny agency within the Department of the
Interior called the Minerals Management Service, which manages the
nation's natural gas, oil and other mineral resources on federal lands.
A report, conducted by the Interior Department's inspector general and
released earlier this month, found that employees at the agency
received improper gifts from energy industry officials and engaged with
them in illegal drug use and inappropriate sexual relations. It looked
at activities at the agency from 2003 through 2006.
Maxwell said the report doesn't surprise him. The agency, he said, is
corrupt "top to bottom." Video Watch a failure to "protect America's
interests" »
"It sounds like they forgot they work for the government," he said.
"It's disgusting. ... There's no excuse for that. Those people should
not be working in those positions at all.
"They crossed a lot of lines that should never have been crossed," he
said. "They lost all objectivity."
Maxwell was in charge of keeping track of the millions in royalty
payments owed taxpayers by oil and gas companies who explored and found
oil on U.S. government lands.
He estimates he and his team were responsible for saving the government
close to $500 million in royalties, either underpaid or somehow skipped
by oil and gas companies, over the years.
He received the Interior Department's highest award in 2003 for his
work. But not long afterward, his job was killed.
He believes it was retribution for his cracking down on Big Oil and
blowing the whistle on what he believes was a "cult of corruption"
within the agency. The Interior Department denies that, saying his job
was reorganized as part of routine restructuring.
Just before he lost his job, he said, one of his superiors in
Washington ordered him not to investigate why Shell Oil had raised its
oil transportation costs. Maxwell said it jumped from 90 cents to $3 a
barrel without adequate explanation. The government paid Shell to
transport oil from offshore platforms.
When asked why a government worker would tell an auditor not to
investigate, he said: "I believe it started from the top down," he said.
Shell Oil told CNN it "pays the same rate any shipper does" and that it
has "never engaged in fraudulent transactions or entered into sham
contracts as Mr. Maxwell alleges."
Maxwell, a registered independent, said the shift in attitude at the
agency began about seven or eight years ago, about the time the Bush
administration came into power. He said he was discouraged from
aggressively auditing oil companies.
"Laws and regulations were not applied, also not enforced," he said.
The inspector general's 27-page summary says that nearly a third of the
roughly 60 people in Maxwell's former office received gifts and
gratuities from oil industry executives.
Two received improper, if not illegal, gifts at least 135 times, the
report says. It goes on to describe a wild atmosphere in which some
staff members admitted using cocaine and marijuana.
In addition, two female workers at the Minerals Management Service were
known as the "MMS chicks" and both told investigators they had sex with
oil industry officials they were supposed to be auditing.
One e-mail from a pipeline company representative invited government
workers to a tailgating party: "Have you and the girls meet at my place
at 6 a.m. for bubble baths and final prep ... Just kidding."
Inspector General Earl Devaney said in a letter to Interior Secretary
Dirk Kempthorne accompanying the report that it details "a textbook
example of improperly receiving gifts from prohibited sources."
Maxwell is now retired from the government and teaches at the
University of Hawaii. He said it was just a matter of time until the
agency's behavior was exposed. He feels vindicated now in the wake of
the inspector general's report, but is still disgusted by what he was
happening at the Minerals Management Service.
"Their job is to protect United States taxpayers' interest. It's like
they completely forgot that, like they just became part of the oil
companies," he said.
The Interior Department said it could not comment on Maxwell's specific
allegations or removal, saying his former supervisor no longer works
for the Interior Department either.
Kempthorne said he was "outraged" by the disclosures in the inspector
general's report and that the actions "of a few has cast a shadow on
the entire agency."
But the department said there is no evidence taxpayers lost money as a
result of unethical behavior between government workers and the oil and
gas industry.
Maxwell doubts that.
The former auditor said he'd love to put all the government royalty
records under his magnifying glass.
"I think the government should be transparent. We are for the people,
by the people. This is the government. We're here to serve," he said.
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Maxwell has filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the Kerr-McGee Corp.,
an energy company involved in oil and gas exploration. In it, he claims
the company defrauded taxpayers out of millions in oil royalty payments.
The company denies the accusation. If Maxwell wins, the government
would recieve about $40 million in additonal revenue and Maxwell would
be entitled to about a third of that.
Source:Ocnus.net 2008
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