Dept. of Justice will not Prosecute Officials in IRS Scandal

The Department of Justice announced it would not be prosecuting top officials involved in the Internal Revenue Service's scandal involving illegally accessing confidential tax records of political candidates and campaign donors in 2006.

In a July 3letterto Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, J. Russell George,the Treasury inspector general for tax administration (TIGTA) acknowledged that government officials had illegally accessed tax records of candidates and donors in four instances since 2006.

TIGTA determined that in three of the cases the access was inadvertent. But in a fourth case, the unauthorized access was willful.

In the fourth case, we presented evidence of a willful unauthorized access to theDepartment of Justice, but the case was declined for prosecution,wrote George.

Sen. Grassley sent a letter to the Department of Justice asking why they have declined to prosecute the fourth case.

"Decisions such as these directly impact the political process and should be subject to the scrutiny of the American public," Grassley said in the letter.The public needs to know whether the decision not to prosecute these violations was politically motivated and whether the individuals responsible were held accountable in any other way.

Any agency with access to tax records is required to act with neutrality and professionalism, not political bias, said Grassley. The Justice Department should answer completely and not hide behind taxpayer confidentiality laws to avoid accountability for its decision not to prosecute a violation of taxpayer confidentiality laws.