Coffman issues bipartisan call for criminal investigation into VA hospital cost overrun

U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO) led a bipartisan call on Thursday for a criminal investigation into the construction of a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) hospital in Aurora, Colorado.

The VA Administration Investigative Board (AIB) recently released a report on the hospital construction project, which saw its budget of $600 million balloon to $1.73 billion. The report found that all VA officials involved with the hospital’s construction have since resigned, but that some collected performance bounces despite cost overruns.

Coffman, the chairman of the House Veterans Affairs Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, and U.S. Rep. Kathleen Rice (D-NY), a member of the subcommittee, called on the VA Office of Accountability Review and the inspector general to make any appropriate criminal referrals in the case.

“The American taxpayers deserve answers,” Coffman said. “The mismanagement and cost overruns of the Aurora VA hospital are outrageous. At the least, I believe that a number of these VA employees knowingly lied to my subcommittee and other congressional committees about the project’s problems. I expect the Veterans Affairs Office of Accountability Review and the Office of the Inspector General to do their job and see if any of these VA officials committed criminal acts as the cost skyrocketed from $604 million to $1.73 billion.”

Rice, a former prosecutor, said that the case is “ripe for criminal review” after the VA released a summary of the AIB report and announced that it wouldn’t take additional action on the matter.

“We still don’t know whether this was a case of incompetence and mismanagement, wasteful spending or theft — but regardless, it cannot be swept under the rug,” Rice said. “If the VA has uncovered any evidence of criminal activity in the course of this investigation, that information must be swiftly turned over to relevant law enforcement officials so that we can finally get some answers and American veterans and taxpayers can finally get the accountability they deserve.”