"Oh, the irony. Just before the Department of Interior's inspector general released reports that laid bare the oil-and-sex scandal in the department's oil royalties office this week, Interior won an annual award from the federal Office of Government Ethics, The Post's Mary Pat Flaherty and Derek Kravitz report.

The inspector general said Wednesday that federal officials in the Mineral Management Service's royalty-in-kind program allegedly were plied with alcohol and expensive gifts from industry representatives, and in some cases had sex and did drugs with them. The Denver-area office takes in roughly $4 billion each year in oil and natural gas reserves from companies drilling on federal and Indian land and offshore.

But, on Monday, the Interior Department was praised for "developing a dynamic laminated Ethics Guide for employees" that was a "polished, professional guide" with "colorful pictures and prints which demand employees' attention." The guide, the award noted, was small enough for employees to carry. Interior also was lauded for having held a four-day seminar for its ethics advisors nationwide.

It isn't known if those seminars included the royalty office, where investigators found that a former program director was paid more than $30,000 for improper outside work, bought cocaine using a personal check from his office and engaged in an illicit sexual relationship with a subordinate; employees accepted gifts, including sports tickets and vacations, from industry executives; and two former officials, with the help of a supervisor, arranged to get themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars in consulting work after they retired."

Get the Story:
Days Before Scandal, Interior Got Ethics Award (The Washington Post 9/12)

OIG Reports:
Gregory W. Smith | MMS Oil Marketing Group - Lakewood | Federal Business Solutions Contracts

Related Stories:
House Resources hearing on Interior investigation (9/15)
Editorial: Sex, drugs and lost royalties at Interior (9/15)
Inspector General probes Indian royalty collection (9/12)
Editorial: 'Anything goes' at Interior Department (9/12)
Rep. Rahall calls hearing on Interior corruption (9/12)
'A culture of ethical failure' seen at Interior (9/11)
New Inspector General reports on ethical lapses (9/10)
Editorial: Swimmer's slap on the wrist at OST (07/11)
Swimmer reviewing latest reports on OST ethics (07/11)
OST officials slammed in investigation -- again (7/10)
Swimmer admits 'mistakes' by top OST officials (7/31)
Ethics issue behind us, Swimmer tells OST (06/27)
OST one of worst places to work in government (5/1)
OST officials rewarded despite questionable record (1/17)
OST pressed on timetable to complete trust reform (01/09)
Accounting firm defends social relations with OST (07/27)
OST contract tied to favors to top officials (7/25)
OST officials awarded $6.6M contract to friends (7/24)