Inspector General

20151113-034269 19
And so I went in [to MG Lewis’ office] and I said, “Hey, sir,
there’s a concern with a charge on your government travel card.”
And he was like, you know, “That’s messed up. That was an
incorrect charge. They need to take that off.” And I was like,
“Okay. I just want to make sure you’re tracking, sir, because
there’s a procedure you have to go through for fraudulent claims
and all that stuff.” I said, “[the first staff member] can help you
with that, but she just needed to know.”
The officer said that was the last she heard about the matter.
MG Lewis provided the following account of his discussion with the first staff member
about the “Candy” charge on his GTCC:
He added:
I came back and I talked to [the first staff member] who actually
runs my DTS [Defense Travel System] on that, and I’ve got to be
careful with how you say things or, you know, when you’re a
general officer. But my piece was I need to get these [charges]
checked, I need to make sure that I understand that these are
accurate, where these were, is this right or not. You know, and
then the next thing I know I’m actually -- instead of just getting
clarification on are these right, is this an overcharge, that kind of
thing and then following up on it – I end up with a new [GTCC].
I want to be real clear that [it was] not my intent to say, “Hey,
make this go away,” or whatever, [rather,] “Check into it,” and,
“Something is not right here.” And I want to emphasize and say it
again that if there are charges for which I’m responsible for – I
have a zero balance on my card right now – If there’s something
I’m responsible for, with interest, I want to make sure that that is
cleared, and set, and taken care of.
MG Lewis stated that he told the first staff member “That doesn't look right…. I didn’t
pay a thousand bucks or whatever … that doesn’t look accurate. Please check on this.”
The first staff member told us that after MG Lewis denied making the charges to his
GTCC at “Candy,” she contacted Citibank, the GTCC issuer, and prepared a “Declaration of
Unauthorized Use” form for MG Lewis’ signature. She said that she filled in his account
number, the sale date, transaction amount, transaction number, and merchant name. She told us
that she told MG Lewis that he needed to do two things – call Citibank and complete the form.
She stated that MG Lewis replied to the effect of “OK, I will call them.”
The first staff member stated that the following day, having not heard from MG Lewis
about the form, she asked MG Lewis about the matter. She told us that MG Lewis told her that
he had not yet called Citibank. The staff member stated that after a few more days, MG Lewis