Auditor: misdirected million bucks likely gone, gone, gone
Regine Schlesinger Reporting
WBBM Newsradio 780
CHICAGO (WBBM) - Illinois taxpayers are unlikely to ever get back the state money that was given to a private school under then-Governor Blagojevich.
That's the conclusion of a new report by the state auditor general.
The money was $1 million promised to help to rebuild Chicago's historic Pilgrim Baptist Church after a fire destroyed the building in 2006.
Instead, the million dollars went to the Loop Lab School, a private institution which had rented space in the church. The school used the money for new space in a downtown office building.
The Blagojevich administration later chalked it up to "a bureaucratic mistake", but, now a review by the auditor general concludes the Governor's office had circumvented internal controls to process the grant.
The report also says that under Blagojevich there were no policies or procedures for doling out tens of millions of dollars in grant money. The state has ordered the now defunct school to repay the money but the auditor general concludes that's unlikely.
More information at:
http://auditor.illinois.gov/Audit-Reports/Performance-Special-Multi/Performance-Audits/09-Loop-Lab-Grant-Mgmt-digest.pdf
E-Mail Story
Print Story
