Statement of Administration Policy: S. 248 - Major Fraud Act Amendments of 1989

(Senate)
(Metzenbaum (D) Ohio and Grassley (R) Iowa)

The Administration is sympathetic to the intent of S. 248 but is concerned that the bill may not fulfill its intended purpose of rooting out procurement fraud against the Government and may, instead, have the opposite effect. In particular, persons who might qualify for rewards under the bill would likely be principal prosecution witnesses for the Government in procurement fraud cases. Because the rewards in question would be made oniy after convictions have been obtained, such witnesses would likely be subject to extensive, and possibly persuasive, cross examination regarding their motives for testifying. Thus, enactment of S. 248 could result in fewer, not greater, convictions for procurement fraud. For this reason, the Administration opposes enactment of S. 248.

In addition, by authorizing a reward to be paid from a criminal fine, S. 248 would establish an exception to otherwise applicable law, which requires criminal fines to be deposited in the Crime Victims Fund for disbursement in accordance with the Victims of Crime Act. Such an exception would detract unwisely from the important purpose for which the Crime Victims Fund was established: the compensation of deserving crime victims.