More Firings in D.C. Tax Scandal

WASHINGTON - The fallout from the huge tax scandal in the District continues.

At a briefing Wednesday, city leaders said 10 employees at the Office of Tax and Revenue have either been removed or have resigned. It most likely will not end there.

"We are going to get rid of additional people," said D.C. Chief Financial Officer Natwar Gandhi. "This is not the end of it."

Gandhi used the briefing to take full responsibility for what he called a profound managerial breakdown.

"This is not a happy occasion for me. This is the darkest period of my professional life."

D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty also made his first major comments since the scandal broke.

"I continue to stand right beside Natwar Gandhi now in his current job and in the future. He is good for the future of this city."

Some reports show more than $30 million in questionable property tax refunds -- dating back seven years -- may have been dolled out to fraudulent companies.

"What we want to assure the Mayor, the Council and the citizens at large is that their tax dollars are safe with the Office of Tax and Revenue and with the District Government," said Gandhi.

The fallout began last Wednesday when D.C. Deputy Chief Financial Officer Sheryl Hobbs-Newman and three other high ranking officials were forced to resign.

Gandhi does not plan to resign and has the support of D.C. Council member Jack Evans, who chairs the Council's Committee on Finance and Revenue.

"I have confidence in Nat Ghandi," Evans said on The Politics Program last Friday. "I don't see how Nat could have prevented it from happening. Certainly we'll talk to him about more internal controls."

The city has made six interim appointments to the Office of Tax and Revenue for oversight purposes and to help clean up the mess. The D.C. Inspector General is digging deeper into the case.

The city council is also taking measures to set up a special committee with subpoena power to further investigate the matter.

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