FEDERAL PROBES TARGET CUSTOMS

Newspaper Reported Cronyism, Leniency

MIAMI -- U.S. Senate and Treasury investigators have launched
simultaneous nationwide probes of alleged mismanagement within the
U.S. Customs Service, questioning systematic cronyism and undeserved
leniency toward favored employees who break the law.

Both investigations were prompted in part by stories in the Miami
Herald that found dozens of examples of careers that flourished after
misdeeds such as dating drug smugglers, tampering with evidence,
skimming seized drug cash, having sex with a paid informant and other
crimes and policy violations.

Hearings expected

The investigations are expected to culminate this summer in Senate
oversight hearings and proposed reforms. One possibility: stripping
the 20,000-employee Customs Service of all its internal-affairs functions.

Customs' own ongoing investigation found inappropriate leniency in at
least five cases cited by the Herald, and Customs Commissioner Raymond
Kelly has begun a major agency shake-up that has included forced moves
of Miami's three top administrators.

Kelly's actions are the latest in a series of attempted reforms
imposed on the agency by federal regulators and oversight panels in
recent years.

Cases under review

A team from the Treasury Department's Office of Inspector General is
reviewing all the Florida cases detailed by the Herald. Last week, the
team told Customs it is expanding the probe to include an audit of
1997 and 1998 internal-affairs case files in El Paso, Texas; New
Orleans; Philadelphia; Chicago; Los Angeles; Miami; and the Customs
database center in Virginia.

In addition, U.S. Sen. William Roth Jr., R-Del., chair of the Senate
Finance Committee, requested three years of disciplinary records
nationwide, including all complaints, allegations of employee
misconduct, and all of Customs' internal referrals to federal
prosecutors.