Audit: Poor record-keeping in attorney generals office

BATON ROUGE — State auditors said they couldn’t tell if the Louisiana attorney general’s office properly spent nearly $25 million because of inadequate documentation.

A review from the Louisiana Legislative Auditor’s Office released Monday found the department couldn’t account for many of the transactions from the agency’s escrow fund. The fund receives money from court judgments, settlements, fines, forfeitures and other penalties. Spending from the fund often is dictated by the terms of a settlement or court judgment.

Beth Davis, with the legislative auditor’s office, said the lack of documentation doesn’t mean the escrow fund transactions violated the state’s laws or regulations. It’s unclear if the transactions complied or not.

“We can’t say the outflow was not appropriate, but we also can’t say that it was. We weren’t provided the documentation,” she said.

Read more: http://www.thenewsstar.com/story/news/local/louisiana/2016/11/22/audit-poor-record-keeping-attorney-generals-office/94288412/