Columbia, SC (AP) – For the first time in more than two centuries as a US state, lawmakers of South Carolina will try to remove a state -chosen employee from office.
The Republican Senate on Wednesday decided to hold a hearing to decide whether the Republican State Treasurer, Curtis Loftis, should be removed from office over $ 1.8 billion in accounting error and then not to report the problem of the General Assembly. Lofti says the attempt to expel him is politically motivated.
Loftis can be removed if two -thirds of the Senate and the Chamber vote against it. At a hearing on April 21, the senators will present their case and Loftis or his lawyer will have three hours to answer. The house will then follow the example with its own hearing.
Money that did not exist
A 58 -page report, published last week regarding the accounting error, says that South Carolina’s books have been inaccurate for 10 years and continue to be corrected. The state has paid millions of dollars to forensic accountants who have ultimately found that missing money is not money that the state has never been spent, but instead is a series of mistakes in balancing books and transferring accounts from one system to another that have never been agreed.
The state should not “do not transmit the current fiscal supervision – the banking and investment functions of our country – to continue incompetence. In short: if the cashier cannot monitor the Ministry of Finance, he should not remain a cashier,” writes senators in his report, which includes more than 600 pages of exhibits.
Lofthis replied, stating that he had won four elections since 2010 and called the Senate investigation into power to be able to receive support for a bill so that the cashier could become an appointed position.
“The financial threat in South Carolina is not from bad management or missing money. The real danger comes from a ruthless, politically motivated attack against my office – the one that risks undermining the financial reputation of our country, increasing the costs of taxpayers and the undressing of the voters of their right to choose a cashier.
The origin of the error
The problems began as the state changed computer systems in 2010. When the process was completed, workers could not understand why books were more than $ 1 billion. A funding fund has been set up to cover the accounting error and over the years has been added more on paper to maintain the balanced books of the state.
The error came to light after controller General Richard Extrom resigned in March 2023 due to a different accounting error and his substitute reported the mysterious account.
The report says that Loftis not only ignored or failed to find mistakes made by his office, but also rejects or delayed attempts to independently research the problem.
“The cashier tried to cover them up. He covered him for a better part of seven to eight years,” said Republican Senator Stephen Goldfich.
The Senate subcompower held hearing to question Loftis under the oath. They were controversial. Lofti struck documents, accused senators of hunting witches and threatened to get up and leave.
Display with senators
One move that particularly angry senators happened after a deputy asked Loftis why he did not submit reports on state finances as required by law. The cashier said he would publish an online report that could include bank account numbers and other sensitive information.
The senators were in turmoil the next day. They said the report could easily be published without information to allow cybercriminals to empty the state’s accounts.
They had the governor and the head of the state police to find Loftis and require him not to publish the report. The cashier said he simply follows the instructions of the Senate.
“His variable temperament and angry behavior worsen those who are charged with working with him to ensure the financial situation of South Carolina,” the senators wrote in the report last week.
The report also says that Loftis is responsible for millions of dollars, which will be spent by the lack of supervision and later the lack of cooperation investigating the account.
What happens after that?
The Senate approved on Wednesday what is called a “address removal” by voice voting without opposition. Legislators have never taken the constitutional step towards his conclusion.
The future of the resolution is a little smaller in the house where no Republicans have gone out to call for violence for the removal of the cashier.
Republican governor Henry McMaster also suggested that Loftis be removed from office, but the governor does not play a major role in the process.