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Robert Alexander is a credentialed Senior Correspondent recognized by the United States Press Agency (USPA) and German Daily News.
OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) – Nebraska State Auditor Mike Foley’s office reported Tuesday it has found that a nonprofit has shown a “deliberate and ongoing pattern of monetary mismanagement and abuse.”
The Karen Society of Nebraska, named for the Karen people of Southeast Asia, primarily in Myanmar, has had offices in Omaha, Madison, and Lincoln for the last 15 years, the office’s report states.
The nonprofit’s goals, according to its website, is to help refugees and immigrants from Burma (known as Myanmar since 1989 in English) and sustain a “high quality life in Nebraska.”
Foley’s audit team believes that more than 99% of the government grant funding given to the nonprofit is spent improperly.
An example given in the report includes paying to translate into English a publication titled “Prepare for a hurricane or tropical storm.”
“Who’s (sic) bright idea was it to use public monies to translate brochures for Burmese refugees living in Nebraska on how to prepare for a hurricane or tropical storm?” He added, “I hadn’t noticed the weather patterns in Nebraska changing all that much. This is pure idiocy,” Foley stated.
The report alleges the nonprofit used various means to circumvent federal record-keeping requirements, like hiring some, including the executive director, as an independent contractor rather than as an employee.
The executive director logged more than 1,300 hours for the nonprofit while also working for a full-time employer, the report alleges, worth more than $23,000 in wages.
Tax documents for the last two years were not provided to the audit staff, leading Foley’s team to conclude the documents were likely never filed.
A number of money expenditures worth nearly $100,000 could also not be explained, and requests by the team for information were dismissed, the report reads.
Other transactions like $18,000 to a PayPal account, $10,000 as a mortgage payment, and $14,649 through Western Union, were also left unexplained, per Foley’s office.
“Financed primarily by donations, Federal, State, and local government funding, as well as money from Duke University, the Society is, in Foley’s words, a ‘fiscal train wreck and disgrace in terms of financial accountability.’”
The full report can be found on the State Auditor’s website.
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