Fraud Case

The case involves fraud on the procurement systems where the federal Jury on April 4, 2019, found Cornell Bozier guilty of conspiracy.

The fraud occurred at the Village of Hempstead Housing Authority (VHHA) created to oversee the construction and repair of low-income housing where Bozier was the chairman. In one of the accounts, Bozier accepted four proposals from companies owned by one person, Alimonos in a bid to replace a roof on n a building (Long Island News par. 7). Bozier picked one of the proposals worth $ 248,000 and convinced the board to accept it. Later Alimonos contracted another company that repaired the roof with $ 23,000 and paid Bozier a $55,000 kickback.

The measures to detect the fraud would include analysing how the procurement officer Bozier convinced the board to detect any unusual behaviours and evidence of good work presented. Another strategy to identify was supposed to be examining the procurement letters to check any common errors made in the applications. The authority could have prevented the fraud through segregation of the procurement process to several people each person to carry out a small part (Henry 18). Another way was to ensure that the procurement policy and procedure were followed. It would have assured that there was a minimum number of bids and that they came to form different bidders.

The accounting information system could not have prevented the fraud because it was not affecting information entry. The authority was paying the amount indicated on the bid to Alimonos directly and then Alimonos would later at a different place and process, separate from the authority pay Bozier. There was nothing wrong in the entry of information to detect because the money requested is what was paid to the bidder. Also, Bozier was in control of entering the information and therefore, could enter details and date of receiving the application letters in a way that they would not reflect inconsistency.

Long Island News. “FBI: Former Chairman of Village of Hempstead Housing Authority Convicted of Corruption Charges.” Longisland.com. 2019. https://www.longisland.com/news/04-03-19/fbi-former-chairman-of-village-of-hempstead-housing-authority-convicted-of-corruption-charges.html 6 Apr. 2019

Henry, Louise. “Fraud Prevention.” Internal Auditor, vol. 73, no. 2, Apr. 2016, pp. 17–19.