Audit request comes in wake of allegations of incompetence and malfeasance in city's finance department
SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – The chairman of the Shreveport City Council’s Audit and Finance Committee is asking for a legislative audit of the city’s finances in the wake of allegations of problems with the city’s accounting department leveled by the city’s recently fired Controller.
“Last month the city’s interim chief financial officer unceremoniously fired the city’s controller, Ben Hebert, without notice to all Council members,” Dist. C Representative John Nickelson said in a letter sent Thursday to Louisiana Legislative Auditor Michael Waguespack.
“Mr. Hebert, a certified public accountant and a certified fraud examiner, has made a wide range of allegations concerning incompetence and malfeasance in the Finance Department. These allegations from a former member of the city’s senior management team are serious and call into question the department’s capacity to administer public funds. They require a full, fair, and transparent investigation that only your office can provide.”
Along with the letter, Nickelson attached Hebert’s opening statement from the news conference held Monday in which he and attorney Allison Jones laid out the allegations and claimed his firing was retaliatory.
Herbert said he found major issues within the City of Shreveport’s accounting department when he assumed the Controller’s position in January of 2020. While some of those issues were...
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