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Felony charges of conspiracy and fraud are being pressed
against District of Columbia tax office employees after
investigators found evidence that they fabricated property tax
refund checks worth more than $30 million over a six-year
period.
Prosecutors say the workers wrote the phony tax
refund checks and deposited the money in sham corporate
accounts. The suspects were assessment services employees, not
real property division employees.
Lawmakers are calling for the House Oversight
and Government Reform Committee to investigate the city’s
failure to detect the theft when it began in 2001.
There appears to be no immediate impact on Tax
Year 2008 assessments issued January 1, 2007 or in the Board of
Real Property Assessment and Appeals hearings. However,
taxpayers may have to wait longer to get their tax refunds
following appeals since the Office of Tax and Revenue is
expected to place new checks and balances into effect following
the massive public theft case.
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