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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2002

Former Secretary of Interior and former Arizona governor Bruce Babbitt refused to be interviewed for an internal report into the handling of the Indian trust fund.

So the Interior's Inspector General had to rely on documents, prior statements and other information to come to conclusions about the Clinton administration's handling of the debacle. A new report concludes that Babbitt gave Congress "inaccurate testimony" in 1999 about a $40 million computer accounting system now regarded as a failure

Around the same time, the report notes, Babbitt was under investigation by a special counsel for denying a land-into-trust transfer sought by three Wisconsin tribes. His office did not return a phone call placed by Indianz.Com requesting comment.

Get the Story:
Babbitt's 1999 testimony inaccurate, Interior report says (The Arizona Republic 8/7)
Username: IndianzCom, Password: indianz.com

Today on Indianz.Com:
Report documents trust fund failures (8/7)
Indian Trust: Conflicts of Interest (8/7)

Get the Report:
Executive Summary (June 2002) | Part 1: Historical Accounting (June 2002) | Part 2: TAAMS (June 2002) | Part 3: E-Mail Destruction (June 2002)

Relevant Documents:
Devaney to Myers: Status of Investigation (10/12) | Myers to Devaney: Request for Investigation (8/17)

Relevant Links:
Indian Trust, Department of Interior - http://www.doi.gov/indiantrust
Indian Trust: Cobell v. Norton - http://www.indiantrust.com
Trust Reform, NCAI - http://www.ncai.org/main/pages/
issues/other_issues/trust_reform.asp

Related Stories:
No one to punish for destroyed e-mails (4/10)
Request for trust fund probe rejected (11/7)
Internal trust fund investigation sought (8/22)