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Ex-NMFA Controller Admits That He Was ‘Probably Negligent’ to Submit a Fake Audit Report But It’s Okay Because a Real Audit Will Confirm That Everything Is A-okay

The New Mexico Finance Authority ("NMFA") has a bit of a mess on its hands. You see, a week or so back, the State Auditor discovered that the audit report – that was submitted six months late – was fake. Bogus. A sham.

The NMFA management and board investigated and determined that the authority’s former controller, who left his position early last month before the issue was discovered, had misrepresented to senior management the status of the audit and provided financial statements for use with third parties that he falsely represented as “audited” by NMFA’s outside auditing firm Clifton Gunderson LLP.

That former controller was Greg Campbell and naturally, people had some questions for ol' Greg about this phony CG audit. Unfortunately, Mr. Campbell has been totally MIA up until last week when he was tracked down by local producer Peter St. Cyr who got to ask all the fun questions people wanted answeres answers to. Like, what does Campbell think of everyone pointing the finger at him? 

“It probably is fair because it was under my supervision to get the audit done and completed," replied Campbell.
Uh huh. Sooooo what did he get done, exactly? 
Campbell said he did put the audit together without full care, but said he had no criminal intent. And he said it was "probably" negligent on his part to assemble the audit in that manner.
Looking back on things, he realizes what he could have done better:
He said, instead, he should have had the auditor and management sign off on not only the numbers, but also on the format and everything else in the report.
And this is one big misunderstanding:
Campbell said officials mistook his “draft” report for the “final” report.
Um, so why not just say that?
Campbell responded stating that it was a "bad decision" on his part.
The New Mexico Watchdog blog also writes that Campbell assured St. Cyr that IF someone were to do an ACTUAL audit, they'd find that everything is just fine:
He maintains that a real audit will confirm the numbers in the fake audit. 
Speaking of which – although the NMFA has issued a press release saying that the "erroneously audited" financial results have been "withdrawn," they are still available on their website. It's probably just another oversight.
 

 

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