Monmouth prosecutor, state comptroller reinforce local-level ethics

Looking to stem the tide of fraud cases that flow from municipal and school offices to Monmouth County and state investigators, especially fiscal mismanagement that impacts taxpayers, County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni takes officials and educators back to class.

Gramiccioni and New Jersey State Comptroller Philp James Degnan today held the second of two semniars this week, to reinforce fiscal integrity and accountability, and to recommend methods to prevent abuses of office.

In prepared comments, Gramiccioni noted that Monmouth is the only county in New Jersey partnering with state officials on seminars of this type.

"Our goal is to provide 'best practices' information to municipal and school officials on how to prevent crime, fraud, waste and abuse in governmental operations; and to ensure strong internal controls exist to help maintain fiscal integrity and responsibility," Gramiccioni said

About 50 mayors, municipal administrators, information technology directors, school administrators and superintendents, school board members and others attended each workshop.

They heard from investigators in the Prosecutor's Financial Crimes, Public Corruption and Computer Crimes units, and members of Degnan's office, who used recent cases as examples for recognzing and avoiding conflicts of interest, contractor management, legal billing, overtime wages and compensation time.

The State Comptroller operates as an independent agency, advocating transparency and effective expenditure of taxpayer funds, auditing and investigating government agences, reviewing government contracts, and ferreting out Medicaid fraud.

The Prosecutor's Financial Crimes and Public Corruption units investigate and prosecute criminal conduct by municipal, county and state officials in Monmouth.