By Cliff Montgomery – Dec. 22nd, 2009
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has failed to implement 224 recommendations submitted byits Inspector General since December 2007–or more than 60% of those findings over the last two years,according to the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), a government watchdog group.
POGO last week revealed its concerns in a letter sent to SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro. The watchdog groupobtained its information through documents released via a Freedom Of Information Act request.
The documents reveal that hundreds of recommendations from the agency’s Office of Inspector General(OIG) either have not been implemented or have been ignored since late 2007.
The documents thus appear to show that the SEC has done little to reform its poor oversight of Wall Street,and has done equally little to hold agency officials accountable if they break the rules.
If that weren’t bad enough, these revelations come as Congress considers handing over to the SEC a host ofnew regulatory responsibilities.
“For an agency that’s recovering from the worst failure in its history, the SEC’s decision to ignore so many ofthe Inspector General’s recommendations is simply astonishing,” POGO Executive Director Danielle Briandeclared in a statement.
In the letter sent to Chairman Schapiro, POGO called on top SEC officials to fully implement the InspectorGeneral’s most important recommendations.
“If SEC officials are serious about protecting investors from the next Madoff, this long list of unimplementedrecommendations should serve as a wake-up call and a roadmap for reform,” added Danielle Brian.
