Doubt cast on AP story's claim of “No Wrongdoing” in DEA corruption scandal

The Associated Press followed Narco News’ recent exclusive report of alleged corruption in the Bogotá, Colombia, office of the Drug Enforcement Administration with an article headlined: “Probe of DEA Agents Finds No Wrongdoing.”

Although the AP story headline seems to imply that the corruption charges are a dead issue, at least one former high-ranking DEA official contends the allegations are, in fact, very credible. In addition, representatives of the two watchdog agencies charged with investigating the corruption, to date, don’t seem to have their stories straight about the status of their investigations, based on comments made to Narco News. Narco News published its exclusive story on Jan. 9 based on a leaked memo drafted by Department of Justice attorney Thomas M. Kent. In the memo, Kent alleges that DEA agents in Bogotá assisted narco-traffickers, engaged in money laundering, and conspired to murder informants.

Kent’s memo also alleges that investigations into the alleged corruption carried out by the Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) and DEA’s Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) were derailed and whitewashed by officials within those watchdog agencies.

(OIG has oversight over DEA’s OPR -- which is essentially the agency’s Internal Affairs unit -- and the right of first refusal when it comes to investigating corruption cases within DEA.)

The recent AP story about Kent’s explosive December 2004 memo includes a quote from an anonymous Justice Department “official” that makes it appear as though all of Kent’s allegations already have been thoroughly investigated and found to be without merit.

From the AP story:

The Justice Department's inspector general's office investigated the allegations in the memo and was unable to substantiate them, according to a Justice Department official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to discuss internal investigations.

But not everyone is buying the line being put out by the Justice Department through AP’s media megaphone.

Sandalio Gonzalez served as the chief of the South America Section in DEA's Office of International Operations from 1995 to 1998. He later was promoted to the post of associate special agent in charge of DEA’s field division in Miami -- where the Bogotá corruption charges outlined in the Kent memo first surfaced. Gonzalez retired last year, after finishing out his career as the head of DEA’s El Paso, Texas, field division.

Here’s what Gonzalez told Narco News:

The information in the memo is accurate as far as what I know from my involvement in some of the cases and reflects a climate of cover-up in the executive branch.

When asked why a Justice Department official would tell an AP reporter that Kent’s allegations were investigated and “no wrongdoing” found, Gonzalez replied:

What do you expect them (the Justice Department) to say? Do you expect them to admit they're committing felonies?

The comments by the unnamed source in the AP story also don’t square with what the DEA itself is saying officially. Garrison K. Courtney, a spokesman for the DEA, issued the following statement to the press on Jan. 13:

… DEA takes very seriously any allegations of misconduct, abuse of position, or criminal action. The allegations that are reported in the Narco News Bulletin are extremely serious. DEA's Office of Professional Responsibility is investigating the allegations that have been made. …

The Justice Department’s OIG also is not backing the claim made by the nameless DOJ official in the AP story, at least publicly. When contacted by Narco News, an OIG spokesperson would only say that the agency officially has “no comment” about the allegations raised in the Kent memo or the status of any investigation into those allegations.

When Narco News again contacted DEA’s Courtney in the wake of the AP story, he confirmed that the agency’s Jan. 13 press statement concerning the allegations in the Kent memo still stands.

(Interestingly, that DEA press statement never appeared in the AP story.)

“The allegations are under review,” Courtney said.

He then added that he himself is still waiting on an official statement from the OIG.

“I’m waiting to hear back from OIG,” Garrison said. “Most of the (original) investigation happened over there, so I’m waiting to see what they have to say before I can make any other comment.”

This is all very strange, indeed.

So Narco News ran the conflicting information by some of its sources. They indicated that there are a few hard questions that need to be asked, questions that Garrison and the OIG spokesperson refused to address.

Here they are:

1. If the AP’s unnamed DOJ source is correct, and an investigation into the allegations in the memo has already been completed and found “no wrongdoing,” which investigation would that be? The one Kent alleges in his memo was whitewashed by both OPR and OIG?

2. Or was there a second investigation launched after that allegedly whitewashed investigation was completed?

3. If there was a second investigation, how can OIG, or OPR, conduct credible investigations into alleged corruption within their own agencies?

4. If the AP’s source is referring to the same investigation Kent claims was whitewashed, why has it been kept open for so long (years at this point), and why was the original OIG investigator in that probe pulled off the case, as Kent alleges in his memo?

5. If a new OIG investigator was put on the case after Kent wrote his memo alleging that a cover-up was underway, then that means either the initial suspect investigation was continued with that new investigator, or a second investigation was launched with a new investigator.

In either case, all of the complaining parties, witnesses, including the whistleblowers, should have been re-interviewed, right? How else could a new OIG investigator conduct a legitimate investigation?

6. Then the most interesting question of all arises. Were those individuals indeed re-interviewed? If they were not, then any claim that OIG or OPR conducted a thorough investigation of the allegations and found “no wrongdoing” is simply not credible.

I suspect there are multiple sources out there who can address that question, even if OIG and OPR officials continue to require their media front people to dodge that issue.

In fact, Gonzalez confirms that no one from OPR or OIG did re-interview the key whistleblowers in the DEA corruption case after Kent’s memo was written in December 2004.

That’s precisely why, according to Gonzalez, “There needs to be an independent investigation of these charges."

Stay tuned….