- The South Carolina government discovered that one of their bank accounts has $1.8 billion, but they have no idea who put the money there and why.
- Sen. Larry Grooms said his investigative panel still has no information from the state treasury office about where the money was supposed to go.
The South Carolina government discovered that one of their bank accounts has $1.8 billion, but they have no idea who put the money there and why.
The state’s top accountant, the elected Republican comptroller general, resigned last year when his department began recording duplicate funds in higher education accounts, resulting in a $3.5 billion miscalculation.
Sen. Larry Grooms, who is leading the investigation into this money mystery, said his investigative panel still has no information from the state treasury office about where the money was supposed to go.
“It’s like going to your bank and the bank president tells you we have a lot of money in our vault but we don’t know who it belongs to,” Grooms said, according to AP.
Until the money’s origin is traced, Grooms proposed legislation that would allow him to move the large sum to a “safe deposit box” account, where it will accrue interest.
The state’s top accountant, the elected Republican comptroller general, resigned last year when his department began recording duplicate funds in higher education accounts, resulting in a $3.5 billion miscalculation.
Republican Treasurer Curtis Loftis claimed to have invested the funds in the mystery account and generated nearly $200 million in interest for the state.
Sen. Larry Grooms, who is leading the investigation into this money mystery, said his investigative panel still has no information from the state treasury office about where the money was supposed to go.
Until the money’s origin is traced, Grooms proposed legislation that would allow him to move the large sum to a “safe deposit box” account, where it will accrue interest.
The state’s computer system change in 2010 was the initial cause of the problem.
State Senate leaders have stated that while investigative accountants are still working to resolve the chaos, it appears the money was moved from one location to another to help balance the state’s finances when they were out of balance.
On Tuesday, the Senate passed a proposal, which now goes to the House, that would allow voters to decide whether to appoint the Comptroller General as an appointed position.
Unless the treasurer can recognize why the money exists in this account in the first place, that is.
State officials have not received any information that would have revealed the origin of the $1.8 billion, and the reason for the bank account errors remains unresolved.
‘It doesn’t inspire confidence. But the good news is that no money was lost,” said Republican Governor Henry McMaster.
Republican Treasurer Curtis Loftis claimed to have invested the funds in the mystery account and generated nearly $200 million in interest for the state.
State Senate leaders have claimed that money was moved from one place to another to help balance the state’s finances when they were out of balance.
The Senate approved a proposal, which now goes to the House, that would allow voters to decide whether to appoint the Comptroller General as an appointed position.
This raised concerns about Loftis’ failure to inform the General Assembly about the existence of money they had set aside for state agencies or that might have been in a trust fund.
In a March 14 letter to Grooms, Loftis said that not only was that not the job of his office, but that the comptroller general “is attempting to shift responsibility for cleaning up his mess to the Treasurer.”
Loftis said his team had investigated the account for thousands of hours and were denied access to the material or a meeting with the Comptroller General’s Office.
