Two more IRS officials have been suspended, the scandal-plagued US tax agency said Wednesday, including one said to be involved in implementing President Barack Obama’s health care program.
Acting Internal Revenue Service commissioner Danny Werfel said he placed the staffers on administrative leave for receiving free food and gifts at a private party in Anaheim, California, where IRS managers were attending a 2010 conference that has come under investigation for excessive spending.
“There was clearly inappropriate behavior involved in this situation, and immediate action is needed,” Werfel said in a statement.
A congressional aide confirmed a Buzzfeed report that one of those suspended was Fred Schindler, a deputy to Sarah Hall Ingram, who oversees implementation of the Affordable Care Act for the Internal Revenue Service.
The report said Schindler and a second unnamed staffer were put on leave for accepting $1,162 in free food and other gifts provided by an event planner during an “after hours” party in Anaheim.
On Tuesday the Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration released a report on the 2010 conference attended by 2,600 people, for which it said the IRS spent at least $4.1 million.
Republicans immediately seized on the report, which said the IRS paid $50,187 for production of two videos, including a short parody of the science fiction TV show Star Trek, and $133,000 in commission to two event planners.
Some $64,000 was also spent on gifts and souvenirs for participants, according to the report.
“The wasteful Anaheim conference is one example of a culture of excess that plagues the IRS and many federal agencies,” House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa, a Republican, said in a statement.
Werfel was appointed late last month to run the agency after Obama forced the previous head to resign over IRS agents’ inappropriate targeting of conservative groups which had applied for non-profit status.
That revelation burst into a full-blown scandal last month when the Treasury inspector reported the abuse that had gone on between 2010 and 2012.
The head of the IRS tax-exempt organizations division, Lois Lerner, has come under intense criticism for failing to alert Congress about the inappropriate scrutiny.
Irate lawmakers have held several hearings on IRS wrongdoing in recent weeks. They called on Lerner to testify before a House panel on May 22 but she refused, and was placed on paid leave the next day.
Two more officials at US tax agency suspended
