Employee Information
When and what should I report to the OIG?
Employees should report any situation that involves suspected waste, fraud, abuse
or mismanagement of NCUA programs, operations
or assets. Examples
of matters that should be reported include:
- Contract
and procurement fraud and collusion;
- Bribery
and acceptance of gratuities;
- Gross
mismanagement;
- Misuse,
embezzlement or theft of government property
or funds;
- Employee
misconduct, such as misuse of official position
or acceptance of unauthorized gifts and other
illegal or unethical activities.
What
if I am not sure whether to report something?
Call
us anyway to ask whether what you have should be reported.
**Above
all, please do not undertake your own investigation. The OIG has trained criminal investigators on staff to do this.
How to file a complaint
You may call the OIG Hotline at 703-518-6357 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. EDT
to speak with an OIG investigator . After hours,
you may leave a message and your call will be returned
the next business day.
Outside
of the Metropolitan DC area, call 800-778-4806.
You
may write to us : OIG Investigations
National
Credit Union Administration
1775
Duke Street
Alexandria,
VA 22314-3428
or
OIG
PO
Box 25705
Alexandria,
VA 22313-5705
Mail
sent to the OIG office post box is retrieved by
the OIG staff. It does not go through the agency
mail distribution center. You
may also walk into our office at NCUA Headquarters
in Alexandria. We will be happy to speak with you. We
cannot guarantee the confidentiality of complaints
sent via e-mail.
Must I cooperate with the IG?
NCUA Instruction 1910.08, October 14, 2003, provides that all NCUA employees must cooperate to the fullest extent with OIG auditors and investigators. This means that when an OIG auditor or investigator requests your assistance in an official OIG audit or investigation, you must provide any documents or testimony requested. Of course you do not forfeit your Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate yourself if you are accused of a criminal violation.
An employee who fails to cooperate with an official OIG audit or investigation may be subject to disciplinary action up to and including termination.
What to do during an audit
NCUA Instruction 1910.2, January 14, 1997, provides that all NCUA employees must
cooperate to the fullest extent with OIG auditors and investigators.
This means that when an OIG auditor requests your assistance in an
official OIG audit, then you must provide any documents or testimony
requested. Of course you do not forfeit your Fifth Amendment right
not to incriminate yourself if you are accused of a criminal violation.
An employee who fails to cooperate with an official OIG audit, may be subject
to disciplinary action up to and including termination.
What to do during an Investigation
It is important to cooperate fully with an OIG investigator who is conducting
an official investigation. If the investigator
asks for your statement or asks for documents, you
must provide them. Of course, you do not
forfeit your Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate
yourself if you are accused of a criminal violation.
It is also important not to discuss an investigators questions and your answers with anyone else. This could interfere with the
conduct of the investigation.
Ethics Questions
All ethics questions should be directed to the Designated Agency Ethics Official,
the Deputy General Counsel, or his designee.
Is my identity confidential?
When you contact the IG you may ask to remain anonymous, or ask that your identity
be kept confidential. Under Section 7(b) of the
IG Act, the OIG must not disclose a complaining
employees identity without his or her consent unless the IG determines that disclosure
is unavoidable during the course of the investigation.
Such disclosure is very rare and usually occurs
when a court or Congressional committee
requires it.
It
is important to remember that if you ask to remain anonymous or to
have your identity kept confidential, it may make it more difficult
to investigate your complaint.
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