FBI getting involved in Saugus audit

SAUGUS – Town Manager Scott Crabtree said the Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking into alleged financial violations uncovered in a series of recent forensic audits.?I did have a meeting today with a representative from the (Inspector General?s) office and the FBI,” said Crabtree during a Tuesday night meeting with the Board of Selectmen and Jim Powers of accounting firm Powers & Sullivan. “They are looking at this, and have records and documentation. They are aware and involved, and are reviewing the material.”Powers took the board and the 11 Town Meeting members in the audience through the 12-page procurement audit, which is the third and final audit. Powers detailed what he described as $700,000 in “questionable purchases and costs” along with $1.3 million in purchases not in compliance with purchase and procurement laws.?The period of review for this was the last two years, not the last nine years, which makes you wonder,” said selectman Debra Panetta.Selectman Stephen Horlick pointed to one part of the audit as being “just crazy.”The audit states that after Caruso Construction built a wheelchair ramp, the former Town Manager had Caruso?s performance bond waived before the job was complete. The audit states Caruso then submitted an invoice for $7,400 for debris removal, which was already included in the original specifications of the job.?The vendor knew they got their bond back and they still put additional money in,” said Horlick. “They cashed that check for something they should have done for free.”In a phone interview after the meeting, former Town Manager Andrew Bisignani said that was “simply not true.”?We never returned any bond,” said Bisignani. “I had no knowledge of returning a bond before the job was completed. The invoice in the audit report had nothing to do with the ramps and was for removal of debris from some other source.”Bisignani also said the auditor is making “legal conclusions for which he?s not qualified or trained to do.”Powers went on to say more than $100,000 worth of vehicles purchased through Brother?s Auto in Revere did not meet purchasing requirements.Powers, however, did note that “not everything was done wrong.”?There was a lot that was done right, especially with the large capital projects,” said Powers. “But we also found that a lot of the smaller procurements had a lack of purchase orders and documentation. When you add it all up it becomes a lot of money.”Powers also said it “may be worth pursuing” some type of recourse against the town?s former auditing firm, Melanson Heath, for not catching the violations during its annual audit.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].