DETROIT (AP) — A monitor appointed by a federal judge in the wake of a United Auto Workers bribery and embezzlement scandal contends that the union has been uncooperative by withholding information on additional misconduct allegations.
The monitor, Neil Barofsky, made the assertion in his third report to Judge David Lawson in Detroit. Barofsky accused the union of concealing an investigation into the mishandling of cash by an assistant regional director of the UAW.
Barofsky alerted the U.S. Attorney's Office in Detroit, which investigated the original scandal. U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison told the union that it was violating a court order by concealing the information, and the UAW has been behaving properly since, Barofsky wrote.
But he wrote that the union obstructed his ability to do his job.
“The union's concealment of evidence of the misconduct of one of its leaders and its own investigation into that misconduct interfered with the monitor's ability to carry out his work,” Barofsky wrote.
His assertions raise questions about whether the union has reformed itself as it has announced and whether Ison's office has begun further investigations. A spokeswoman for Ison declined to comment, and messages were left seeking comment from the union.
Barofsky's report said the union also refused to give him summaries of oral interviews involving investigations. The monitor has 19 investigations under way and has referred two cases to Ison's office after having received tips from a UAW ethics hotline.
