A state audit of the South Bend Community School Corp.’s finances has identified over $767,000 in “questioned costs.” WVPE’s Jeff Parrott reports the State Board of Accounts says it’s referred its findings to the Indiana attorney general and St. Joseph County Prosecutor Ken Cotter.
As one example, the questioned costs include $271,000 paid for painting to convert Brown Intermediate Center into the administration building from 2022 to 2023.
Kareemah Fowler, then the corporation’s chief financial officer, recently told WVPE that the administration looked at several painting firms but had to pick one quickly, and the board then approved paying their invoices incrementally.
But current CFO Ahnaf Tahmid characterized their work as a “total bypass of state procurement laws,” according to recent emails he sent to current trustees about the audit that were obtained by WVPE.
But Fowler’s attorney, Richard Nussbaum, said Tahmid was intimately involved as Fowler’s deputy.
“He was privy to all this stuff, and we’re not pointing fingers at him that he did stuff wrong because there’s reasons why things were done," Nussbaum said. "There was no illegal or unethical behavior here.”
A school corporation spokesman did not reply to WVPE’s interview request Monday.
