(Hartford, CT) – Attorney General William Tong testified today before the Judiciary Committee in support of Senate Bill No. 426: An Act Concerning False Claims and Other Prohibited Acts. The legislation seeks to expand the scope of Connecticut’s False Claims Act by removing provisions that limit application of these statutes to State-administered health or human services programs. The legislation would allow the Office of the Attorney General to pursue fraud and abuse of tax dollars anywhere in State government, while also protecting and encouraging those who step forward to report fraud and abuse in any State spending.
The legislation would enable the Office of the Attorney General to summon witnesses and require the production of documents for the purpose of an investigation. In those cases where the investigation establishes a solid factual and legal foundation for a False Claims Act violation, it would enable recovery of the costs of the investigation and prosecution, three times the amount of damages sustained by the State, and civil penalties.
“More than one hundred different agencies, offices, and quasi-public agencies spend tax dollars on behalf of the government of the State of Connecticut. The current Connecticut False Claims Act covers programs at just nine agencies. This leaves billions of tax dollars vulnerable to fraud and abuse in programs administered at all the other State agencies, including the state departments of Transportation and...
A person in his 30s who demanded compensation for alleged foreign substances in cup noodles and the absence of meat in stir-fried pork was sentenced to prison in both the first trial and the appel...