The oversight office for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration wants the agency to improve its tracking of the status of suspect CDL holders prosecuted in fraud schemes.
The Office of Inspector General based its Feb. 7 audit from information on drivers who obtained CDLs from 1998 to 2003: 31 states reported CDL fraud during that period. A total of 27 states provided specifics on 15,032 suspect CDL holders and took appropriate action, such as revoking privileges, against 55 percent of them, the OIG said.
The OIG noted in the draft report that it could not determine the status of the remaining 6,739 suspect CDL holders, 45 percent of the total, because of insufficient information from states. Most of those were from Florida or Pennsylvania, the OIG said. One state said there were too many suspect CDL holders to list. Another state reported it had no CDL fraud, though the OIG had an active fraud investigation in that state. The OIG report did not identify those states.
The FMCSA argued it could not direct states to provide status reports unless direct evidence of fraud was present. The OIG disagreed and noted federal and state officials would not be required to take action against suspect drivers unless a specific case warranted it – not if, for example, a driver was associated with a corrupt CDL examiner only by coincidence.
