TRENTON, N.J. - About 20 state Treasury Department officials accepted golf outings, cigars, gourmet chocolates and other gifts from a contractor, then looked the other way as the company overcharged New Jersey hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, a watchdog agency said Tuesday. | Well, duh! It's New Jersey |
Senior and midlevel managers in the taxation and revenue divisions accepted more than $65,000 in gifts, meals, alcohol and entertainment from OSI Collection Services Inc. of Chesterfield, Mo., from 1999 to last March, the commission said. OSI collects back taxes for the state.
"The gifting and entertaining were not isolated events aimed at a few individuals, but spawned a culture that swept through two major divisions within the department," the report said.
The commission found that OSI overbilled New Jersey more than $1 million between 2000 and 2004. The SCI recommended that the company be temporarily barred from doing work for the state, and that New Jersey attempt to recover overcharges. Calls to OSI's chief executive and spokeswoman were not immediately returned.
| Check the landfills, I'm sure they'll turn up |