2008 will be an extremely painful year for the United States Department of Justice. It seems to be feeling pain from all different fronts. There was the recent overturning of a ruling in regards to the 9/11 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. And then there was a report not long ago revealing that the DOJ’s hiring process was biased as applicants with liberal and/or Democratic backgrounds and connections were passed over for employment. Now, here comes a new pain that the DOJ must deal with: fraud cases.
Yes, that’s right.
The Department of Justice has to deal with a backlog of alleged fraud by both government contractors and drug companies. So far, these cases have built up gradually within at least the last ten years. It has turned into a pile of cases that should keep the DOJ busy for quite awhile. Over the last decade, it has been several hundred new cases stacked onto the previous several hundred cases.
To make things worse, those charged with reviewing such cases do not have enough staff. Those in the DOJ definitely have their hands tied.
In this sea of backlogged fraud cases, the total number goes over 900. However, the DOJ is not entirely at fault. It could not keep pace with the spike in suits brought upon my whistle-blowers. Yes, whistle-blowers are crucial in exposing fraud. Without them, it would be far difficult to uncover fraud.
The main reason that lawmakers and nonprofits are giving their undivided attention is due to that a good number of such backlogged cases are linked with Iraq, Afghanistan, the increase of payouts in health-care, privatization of government functions, and so forth. Yes, many of the cases have something to do with these issues. Iraq, Afghanistan, and health care are major issues for the 2008 US Presidential Elections.
At this current rate, it might take over another decade to deal with all these cases. This is if no cases are filed. Cases filed in regards to alleged fraud have been in the triple digits. These are high triple digit figures.
However, most get rejected by the government. Still, those that are not rejected are more than enough. 1,000 cases should keep the Department of Justice busy for decades. But, most of the cases share one or two common themes: sales of defective products or overcharging of government agencies. In short, the alleged cases of fraud are attributed by companies screwing taxpayers out of billions.
In a nutshell, many of the cases backlogged have something to do with one company screw-job after another. The government agencies have been screwed over and the United States military has been screwed over.
Being understaffed while having to deal with a bunch of fraud cases would not be a good mix.
Should the cases be successfully tried, whistle-blowers do get a slice of the cash pie. That is provided if the cases are in the favor of the whistle-blowers.
Personally, I have mixed feelings about whistle-blowers getting cash settlements as a result of such cases. On one hand, I think whistle-blowers should step forward because they’re good people and not care about getting some hefty settlement at the end. On the other hand, whistle-blowers are “marked” afterwards.
In regards to handling the cases, due to the backlog, it would take many years for the accepted cases to see the light of a courtroom. A lot of things can happen over time. Such things consist of: foggy memories, corporate restructuring, corporations dying out, certain people leaving corporations, loss of evidence, and so forth.
The DOJ certainly has a lot on its hands. Fraud cases should be keeping the DOJ busy for quite awhile. At the same time, the DOJ itself would be going through changes of structuring.
There are also other factors to be considered: there could be change of leadership within the DOJ, the DOJ itself could be restructured at least once or twice, several members will leave the DOJ, new members have to fill in those positions, new members would have to familiarize themselves with fraud cases, and many other things.
Sorting through the pile of backlogged cases will be long and tedious.
However, United States President George W. Bush should not be worried about the backlogging of fraud cases. Bush leaves office in January of 2009. It will either be presumed Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama of Illinois or presumed GOP nominee Senator John McCain of Arizona who will have to deal with such cases after this November.
While the members of the DOJ will change, the piles of unsettled cases of alleged fraud will still remain.
For those working in the DOJ, have fun settling every single one of those cases. Unfortunately, dealing with such fraud cases will be painful for US taxpayers. Yes, our tax dollars are used to hire such lawyers to deal with fraud cases.
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