Audit finds ECD failed to mitigate risks in grant monitoring of TCA

Plus: More charges expected against Sadruddins by D.A. 

The misfortune of Pikeville, Bledsoe County, the State of Tennessee, and the United States governments revolving around Textile Corporation of America’s (TCA) fraudulent venture to create a textile mill in the city was focused on in a scathing audit of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD).

The audit and hearings in front of a joint Commerce, Labor, Transportation and Agriculture Subcommittee last week revealed ECD identified several companies had not met the levels of job creation they promised in accountability agreements signed when they were initially awarded incentives or grants from the State.

ECD Commissioner Bob Rolfe said the agency identified 19 companies that reached the end date of their accountability agreements while not meeting job performance promises. Of those, Rolfe said the agency has “clawed back” or recovered about $19 million in taxpayer dollars.

For more, see the September 24 issue of The Bledsonian-Banner.