Members to hear findings of NRCC audit

Members of the National Republican Congressional Committee’s (NRCC) executive board are expected to be briefed on the conclusion of an internal audit into financial irregularities, according to the committee’s auditing chairman.

Rep. Mike Conaway (R-Texas) said he and several members of the committee already know the amount of total money that was allegedly funneled by former Treasurer Christopher J. Ward into his personal and business accounts, but declined to elaborate until the details are officially released Thursday.

{mosads}The Department of Justice detailed last week that Ward had moved at least $500,000 into non-NRCC-affiliated accounts over four years.

No charges have been filed against Ward.

Conaway, a former certified public accountant, uncovered the fraud earlier this year after his insistence on an internal audit allegedly exposed that Ward had been submitting false documents. The NRCC told reporters in March that Ward turned in “bogus audit reports” for all five years between 2002 and 2006.

Last March, Robert Kelner, a partner at Covington & Burling who is outside legal counsel for the NRCC, said that Ward moved hundreds of thousands of dollars from the NRCC to outside committees and then into his accounts.

“As treasurer, Ward was in charge of coordinating the audit … he was … able to authorize transfers without anyone else’s signature,” Kelner said. “In hindsight, it would have been better to have internal controls, but it’s not terribly unusual to have less rigorous controls than you see at larger corporations.”

Ward’s attorney, Ronald C. Machen, declined to comment.