The supporting documents for a $20.3 million report into allegations of wrongdoing by San Diego officials don't include any transcripts of the investigators' 68 interviews.
City Attorney Michael Aguirre said the absence of those critical documents makes it impossible to determine the thoroughness of the report by Kroll Inc., a New York-based risk-management firm.
Kroll's attorney, Benito Romano, said the transcripts – which are actually a lawyer's summary of the interviews – would likely be released in the next few days.
They weren't included yet, he said, because those who prepared the report hadn't waived their work-product privilege, which keeps their notes from being made public.
While the interviews were missing, Kroll gave the City Clerk's Office more than a dozen copies of a nearly 50-page, 2002 blue-ribbon committee report on city finances – one copy for each time it was cited in the footnotes of their report.
At a news conference yesterday, Aguirre also continued his verbal barrage against Kroll, calling lead consultant Arthur Levitt a flimflam artist” for charging the city millions without determining whether city officials broke federal securities laws.
“This continues what I consider to be improper actions on the part of Mr. Levitt aimed at covering up rather than revealing the unlawful activity that's taken place here within the city of San Diego,” Aguirre said.
The Kroll report found that no elected official committed any intentional wrongdoing. Former Mayor Dick Murphy and eight council members – including five current members – merely acted negligently by not ferreting out inaccuracies in bond disclosures they approved in 2002 and 2003, the report said.
Romano, who said Aguirre clearly has a political agenda, said it wasn't the audit committee's job to come to definitive conclusions about whether elected officials violated particular laws.
“We do not try to do the job of the” Securities and Exchange Commission, Romano said. The commission, along with the U.S. Attorney's Office, is investigating those same decisions made by city officials.
Aguirre also threatened Kroll with a false-claims lawsuit because the firm hasn't provided detailed bills and because Levitt said the public would be able to see all of the supporting documents but failed to mention the interviews would be withheld.
Craig Gustafson: (619) 293-1884; craig.gustafson@uniontrib.com
