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Member, Beacon International Group, Ltd.
It's not exactly the kind of thing that engenders faith in governmentor risk management.
The District of Columbia recently said its office of risk management had failed to transfer to life insurance companies as much as $6 million deducted from disabled employees' paychecks.
According to the Washington Post, a district investigation indicated that failure to pay the premiums collected may stretch back seven years.
In a news conference last month, district Attorney General Peter Nickles said he didn't know where the funds had gone, and that the district's inspector general would investigate. But Mr. Nickles added that “I have no information that the money was used for untoward purposes.”
The premium problem came to light during a series of public hearings. Mary Cheh, a member of the district council, told the newspaper that “initially, it looked like a couple of people were negligent,” but the number of employees having similar stories was unusual. “It certainly was something looking peculiar,” she said.
The district said no claims had been denied, and the only personnel action taken so far was to place Kelly Valentine, director of the district's risk management agency, on administrative leave in early July.
Meanwhile, the case of the misplaced premiums remains unsolved.