A ship passes near part of the Cantarell oil platform of Mexico's state oil company Pemex, near the city of Ciudad del Carmen, Campeche.(Victor R. Caivano/AP Photo)
US oil royalty scandal (click here)
September 11, 2008 - 7:35AM
Employees in the same US agency whose errors cost the government billions of dollars in oil royalties had sex with their industry contacts and took illegal drugs such as cocaine, an inspector general investigation found....
...According to the report, then-director Gregory W. Smith bought drugs from RIK subordinates and accepted almost $US1,000 in gifts from Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Gary-Williams Energy Co. While still heading the program, he worked for a consulting firm that did business with the agency, the inspector general said.
Memo: Federal oil lease employees had sex with industry reps (click here)
By DAVID IVANOVICH Houston Chronicle Copyright 2008
Sept. 10, 2008, 2:35PM
WASHINGTON — A "culture of substance abuse and promiscuity" existed in the federal agency that handles royalty payments from oil companies, including sexual encounters between government employees and industry representatives, according to a memorandum released today.
The Interior Department's Inspector General, who has been investigating the U.S. Minerals Management Service's Royalty-In-Kind program, said government employees who were supposed to be regulating the oil companies were engaging in drug use and having sex with industry contacts.
"Several staff admitted to illegal drug use as well as illicit sexual encounters," Inspector General Earl Devaney wrote in a Sept. 9 memo to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne released today....
