Oklahoma Health Department hid millions of dollars from lawmakers in slush fund, grand jury reports

“Any claims that OSDH was insolvent, incapable of making payments or defaulting on payroll were simply not true,” grand jurors reported. “Mismanagement and poor budgeting certainly abounded. But in terms of cash, OSDH had more than enough to close FY18 without the special appropriation.”

Grand jurors spent six months investigating the financial problems at the Health Department after Health Commissioner Terry Cline and his chief deputy, Julie Cox-Kain, resigned abruptly Oct. 30.

Grand jurors issued no indictments, explaining that state law does not make the misconduct they found a crime. They called for a change to embezzlement laws to make it illegal to hide public dollars from the Legislature.

“The lack of a criminal statute covering the mismanagement, deception and obfuscation by the Department of Health is lamentable,” their report said.

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Article source: https://newsok.com/article/5594965/state-grand-jury-to-report-findings-on-oklahoma-health-department