State investigating how Somali agency spent grant money

By Mark Ferenchik - THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

State authorities are investigating a local Somali agency for what they called spending irregularities connected with an anti-crime program.

The Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services had awarded a $62,754 grant to the Somali Community Access Network in 2009 for a program to assist children and adults to prevent crime, according to Lindsey Bohrer, a spokeswoman for the state's public safety department.

"As a part of routine fiscal monitoring, some irregularities were noticed," she wrote in an email yesterday. The state Highway Patrol is investigating.

The state froze the account on Jan. 4, after $17,951 had been spent, later canceling the grant, Bohrer said.

SomaliCAN is cooperating with authorities, executive director Jibril Mohamed said. He said the money was properly spent.

"I don't think it is anything major," he said. "It's basically a misunderstanding of how we handled everything."

The group created the somalitips.com website for the community to report crime.

Another Somali group, Helping Africans in New Directions, is repaying Franklin County about $20,000 after an audit found that group couldn't document how it paid some employees, county Administrator Don Brown said.

mferenchik@dispatch.com

Source: The Columbus Dispatch