WASHINGTON (AFP) — US Department of the Interior employees who handled billions of dollars in oil contracts improperly engaged in sex with energy company employees, a report released Wednesday said.
The report drafted by the department’s inspector general Earl Devaney deplored “a culture of ethical failure” in which regulators received gifts including ski junkets and golf outings.
The investigation uncovered a “culture of substance abuse and promiscuity,” Devaney said in a memo to Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne.
The alleged misconduct involved at least 13 current and former employees of the department’s Minerals Management Service (MMS) accused of rigging contracts and accepting gifts and engaging in “illicit sexual encounters” with subordinates and industry representatives, Devaney said….
