COLUMBIA, S.C. (WRDW/WAGT) – South Carolina lawmakers say their work investigating the state’s $1.8 billion mystery and figuring out what consequences should come from it is not over.
This comes after the release of an independent report last month that found a nearly $2 billion surplus believed to be sitting in state accounts was actually an accounting error.
On Tuesday, the Senate subcommittee that’s been investigating this $1.8 billion debacle for over a year held a meeting to hear from the key players involved.
According to his staff, Treasurer Curtis Loftis, wasn’t there because he was out of state. But in recent weeks, Loftis has criticized this group of senators, calling their work a “witch hunt.”
“I believe it is a witch hunt because I want to find the witch that’s responsible for messing with the state’s finances in such a way that no one can have confidence and trust that the numbers being reported are accurate,” says Senator Larry Grooms. “I want the witches that are responsible to be held accountable.”
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Loftis’ chief of staff, Clarissa Adams, testified, under oath, on his behalf answering and sometimes not quite answering senators’ questions for more than two hours.
They asked her about the conclusions from the outside audit released last month as well as Loftis’ comments to their subcommittee last year. Including his assertion that the $1.8 billion was real and that he had invested it making the state around $200 million in interest that lawmakers spent.
Outside auditors have said that would be impossible since the majority of that money never existed, and a small amount did but had already been spent so it could not have generated interest.
Senators also grilled Adams about an incident last year in which Loftis threatened to publish the state’s sensitive financial information with the governor, chief of SLED, and attorney general among those who had to step in to stop him from releasing that information.
The chair of the subcommittee says they hope to hear from the treasurer himself soon, for the first time since the release of the outside audit and report.
“We’re going to continue to probe and ask some more questions because we want to make sure the people of this state, the public, the General Assembly, and Wall Street investors can have confidence when we tell them something,” says Grooms.
Another key player in this, Comptroller General Brian Gaines, gave a brief testimony Tuesday evening but will return before senators Thursday to complete it.
Since the release of that report last month, the governor and lawmakers confirmed publicly for the first time that South Carolina has been and still is under a federal investigation because of these financial discrepancies.
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