Former Paiute President Charged with Stealing from Tribe

It was reported in the Arizona Republic that the former president of the San Juan Southern Paiutes was indicted Tuesday by a federal grand jury on 65 counts of theft, money laundering and false statements. The information came from the U.S. Attorney’s office in Southern Arizona. Evelyn James, 53, of Tuba City, has been under investigation by the FBI for 15 months. Between 2003 and 2005, the indictment says, San Juan Southern Paiutes received more than $2.6 million in federal grants for law enforcement, health care and other programs. According to the indictment, James began writing checks on tribal accounts, embezzling about $300,000 in 2005 alone. The indictment says nearly $225,000 earmarked for police salaries vanished in 2004, and officers were never hired. The story goes on to describe a tribe in chaos -- disputed elections, corruption and embezzlement. James served three terms as tribal president. During her reign, opponents said, tribal members were not allowed to see budgets, expense records or other financial documents.

Is Your Tribe Able to Prevent or Catch Credit Card Abuses?

We recently read that the Bois Forte Reservation Tribal Council (RTC) censured one of its representatives for misusing band funds. The council has begun the process to remove the member from office. The irregularities were detected by the Band’s internal review process, and in accordance with the band’s fiscal policies. As Bois Forte Secretary-Treasurer noted, though this was an unfortunate incident, it was good that the tribe had the procedures in place to discover it.

Credit card abuses among government employees and elected officials is very common, in fact the GAO recently issued a report on abuses in the federal government. As tribes become more prosperous, tribal or corporate credit cards for employees and elected officials are becoming more commonplace. But how many tribes have controls in place to control the use of the credit card and to catch abuses?

Here are few basic controls that tribal government should consider if they issue credit cards to employees and elected officials:

• Demand that receipts be submitted for all expenditures and that the employee who made expenditure provide a written justification for the purchase.
• Expenditures over a certain amount should require prior approval.
• There should be policies in place to revoke privileges if abuses occur.
• Consider restricting credit card use to certain situations, such as hotel expenses during pre-approved travel.
• Enact a policy that credit cards can never be used for personal expenditures.
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  Richard Phelps
  CEO, Falmouth Institute