Clinton Administration To Look Into IRS Criminal Investigations Division
By Eileen O'Connor/CNN
WASHINGTON (April 27) -- The Clinton Administration will announce an inquiry into
procedures used by the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigations
Division.
Senior Administration officials say this will be a 90-day review, headed
by an expert in federal law enforcement. The review is designed to ensure that
investigations are conducted according to law-enforcement standards. Officials
say this is part of an overall review of the entire agency begun by
Commissioner Charles Rossotti.
But the announcement is clearly designed to upstage four days of Senate
Finance Committee hearings scheduled to begin on Tuesday on allegations of
wrongdoing by the criminal investigations division of the IRS. The complaints
focus on what witnesses describe as "heavy handed" tactics.
The administration was embarrassed by similar hearings held last fall on
abuses by the IRS of taxpayers fueling calls for legislation designed to
curb the agency's powers. A Treasury Department report says some of the
allegations made at the hearings had merit, but could not find basis for some of the most inflammatory.
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