Report: Ray Paid Contractors $742K
August 22, 2000
by KAREN GULLO
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Independent Counsel Robert Ray has paid
contractors nearly $742,000 since taking over the investigation
of President Clinton eight months ago, including $210,777 for
private investigators, according to a report released Tuesday.
Totaling more than $52 million, the Clinton probe is the most
expensive independent counsel inquiry ever. Ray, who is
considering whether to seek charges against Clinton after he
leaves office, recently confirmed that he empaneled a new grand
jury last month to resume investigation of the Monica Lewinsky
scandal.
Ray's office listed expenses for contract work at the request of
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who criticized Ray's predecessor,
Kenneth Starr, for spending so much on private investigators and
consultants despite using dozens of FBI and Justice Department
staff.
''These millions and millions of dollars would have been better
spent on serious criminal investigations that could make a real
difference,'' Leahy said in a statement Tuesday. ''It is time for
the independent counsel to file his report, pack it up and go
home.''
In responding to Leahy's request, Ray's office noted that it
spent $7,400 to gather information for the senator.
''Responding to such detailed inquiries imposes costs and
diverts resources from completion of the investigations within
the office's jurisdictions,'' wrote deputy independent counsel
Jay Apperson. He expressed confidence the expenses ''were all
consistent with applicable laws and regulations.''
The expenses listed by Ray and released by the General
Accounting Office cover the eight months from October 1999, when
Ray took over from Starr, through the end of June.
The biggest contractor payment was $445,429 to a computer
analysis company. Four criminal investigators received payments
ranging from $74,348 to $8,214. Ray spent $43,948 on legal
consultants.
In all, Ray's office spent $741,961 on contract work over eight
months, said the GAO, an investigative arm of Congress. Starr
spent $4.9 million on private contractors during his five-year
tenure as independent counsel investigating the Lewinsky matter,
Whitewater and other controversies, the GAO said.
The office now employs 10 full-time and two part-time lawyers,
the report said. Ray, who's salary is set by law, makes $122,400.
The independent counsel's total spending is reported twice a
year, and those numbers haven't yet been updated to reflect Ray's
tenure. His office didn't immediately return a request for
comment.
Since he took over for Starr, Ray has closed an investigation
into the White House gathering of FBI files on several hundred
people in prior administrations. No one was prosecuted; Ray
concluded that none of the sensitive material had been misused.
He also concluded an investigation of the firings of White House
travel office employees without bringing any charges.
Last week, Ray got the go-ahead from a panel of federal
appellate judges to continue his investigation of the Lewinsky
matter for another year. At issue is whether Clinton committed
perjury or obstructed justice when he denied an affair in sworn
testimony for the Paula Jones sexual harassment lawsuit.
Ray also continues work on missing White House e-mails that
should have been turned over to his office as part of the
Lewinsky investigation.
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