YORK COUNTY, S.C. — A South Carolina state auditor has submitted his resignation.
George Kennedy sent a letter to the governor’s office on Thursday. Kennedy had served in the role of state auditor for nine years.
This comes after an independent forensic audit determined an accounting error was responsible for nearly $2 billion mysteriously sitting in South Carolina’s bank account.
Unfortunately, the error means South Carolina residents will not get any of that money in a refund.
The Associated Press reports that this also leads to more questions: why wasn’t the error reported when it was first discovered back around 2018, and should the elected state treasurer, Curtis Loftis, step down or be impeached.
“In the private sector, if anybody had made a blunder of $1.8 billion – whether it was an error, negligence, misfeasance, malfeasance, fraud or a cover-up, they would lose their job,” Republican state Sen. Larry Grooms, who leads a committee investigating the accounting problems, told The AP.
Investigators will now look into whether this was just a series of mistakes, or if state employees discovered the error, and tried to cover it up.
The state could face fines or other punishment.
READ MORE:
- $1.8B mystery deepens as SC lawmakers investigate source of funds
- SC state accountant and treasurer questioned over the $1.8B in idle funds
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