04/16/2009
The Governor is committed to ensuring that federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds are used for authorized purposes without fraud, waste, error, or abuse. If you have direct knowledge that Recovery Funds are being misused, or there are instances of fraud, waste, error, and/or abuse in the application and utilization of these funds, you should report your allegations to the ARRA Fraud Hotline at 1-866-244-3033 or by email to ARRA.Hotline@Maine.gov.
The ARRA hotline is maintained by the Office of the State Controller’s Internal Audit Division. The Internal Audit Division is not able to investigate complaints filed anonymously because of the difficulty in obtaining sufficient evidence to corroborate the alleged improper activity. However, your identity can be protected under Maine law by the State Controller and the Internal Audit Division. When leaving a voice or email message on the hotline, it is important for you to provide the following information:
Complaints will be logged into our internal tracking system in the order in which they are received. Once your complaint has been logged into the system, a staff member from the internal audit division will be in contact with you for more information.
The Internal Audit Division will not undertake a formal investigation without having a basis for believing there is merit to the complaint in order to protect the identity and reputation of individuals that may be incorrectly accused of committing inappropriate governmental activities.
Because we do not undertake formal investigations without adequate cause, it is important that we obtain evidence to corroborate your complaint such as documents, witnesses, and other specific and relevant information. Please be prepared to provide copies of all evidence you have that convinces you that an improper governmental activity has occurred. We are not able to begin an investigation based solely on a letter or telephone call without such evidence.
We will refer any criminal complaint to the appropriate authority, either the Attorney General or local law enforcement, but will attempt to assess the financial impact of the situation with our professional expertise. Please understand that it takes time to conduct a proper investigation and it may be several months before an investigation is completed.
Employees are protected from employer retaliation under Section 1553 of the ARRA for disclosing information they reasonably believe to be evidence of gross mismanagement or gross waste of Recovery Funds; a substantial and specific danger to public health or safety related to the use of Recovery Funds; an abuse of authority regarding the use of Recovery Funds; or a violation of law, rule, or regulation related to the issuance or award of a Recovery Fund grant or contract. See the full text of the ARRA at http://www.whitehouse.gov/thepressoffice/ARRApublicreview/
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