A former internal auditor at NJ Transit claims in an email sent to state and federal officials this week that the agency has slipshod controls that have allowed fraud to take place, lacks transparency for internal investigations, and has no established standards for bus maintenance.
“As a NJT Internal Audit Director, I identified and tried to resolve various important concerns through normal channels which included numerous meetings, e-mails and reports,” wrote Thomas Palczewski, who retired last January. “These concerns were ignored by NJT management and the NJT Board of Directors / Audit Committee.”
In a letter to several NJ Transit and state officials, Palczewski identified and outlined several issues that were brought forward during internal audits that were never addressed, including problems with purchasing cards, improper contracts with vendors, and wasted finances. He also criticized the NJ Transit audit committee for lacking oversight. “For most of the meeting, the audit committee members struggled to stay awake and rarely participate in discussion or ask any questions, he wrote.
The accusations come at a time when the agency finds itself at the center of a $15 million bus fraud scandal being investigated by the state attorney general.