By james art 
Columbia, SC (AP) – South Carolina Treasurer Curtis Loftis said on Wednesday that he was calling for resignation because of an accounting error that left the state trying to understand what had happened to a $ 1.8 billion fund amounts to Witches hunt.
The budget’s subcommittee asked Loftis about the complex problem that his office and the other two knew for about six years before being reported to the General Assembly. The leaders of the other two agencies who were familiar with the problem subsequently resigned and the accounting error was reported only by one of their substitutions.
The bigger part of $ 1.8 billion was mistakes related to the awarding of the money to the bills and did not include real money. But it took millions of dollars and a private forensic audit to unravel the mess.
Lofthis said the potential damage to South Carolina’s credit rating and the federal investigation into state accounting practices are not the fault of his agency. More recently, he said, the fall is to blame for the Republican state senators and others aggressively to chase the Republican cashier and make a public spectacle of the mistake.
“No one can understand it. This is a political hunt for witches, “said Loftis, who several times accuses the mistakes of the retired members of his staff or the general offices of the controller and the auditors who assist him in state finances.
Legislators, especially in the Senate, are not so sure. Republican Sen. Larry Grooms is Calling for Loftis to Resign and the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday Passed A Resolution to Pay a Private Account Are back in order.
The problems began as the state changed computer systems in 2010. When the process was completed, workers could not understand why books were more than $ 1 billion. A funding fund has been set up to cover the accounting error and over the years has been added more on paper to maintain the balanced books of the state.
The error came to light after controller General Richard Extrom resigned in March 2023 due to a different accounting error and his substitute reported the mysterious account.
State auditor George Kennedy resigned last week after a private Alixpartners audit found that he did not review audits that failed to take into account the discrepancy of $ 1.8 billion.
Loftis’s question in the chamber was less confrontation than Senate. But the members of the budget undercommented the Chamber’s budget were particularly upset why Loftis did not report the problems as soon as it appeared instead of waiting for years.
“I do not know how to explain to my neighbors, to my voters, that we could solve this problem for thousands of dollars, but now taxpayers of this country are forced to spend millions of dollars,” said Republican representative Mika Helmets.
Lofthis repeated the mistakes that were made outside his agency and his staff tried to correct them.
“They try to do the right things. A decision was made. They were not the best, “Lofti said.
Loftis also suggested that the damage to South Carolina’s occupational power has already been inflicted. He said that the state can now receive loans and funding only year by year under adverse conditions and has put the blame on the Senate and others who aggressively tempt it for accounting problems.
Later on Wednesday, the grooms showed reporters a note from the Senate’s officers of the finance, who stated that the state could borrow and take up debt and no projects were detained.
During part of the presentation of Lofthis, the bridegroom sat in the back of the meeting room in the house. The young rows left before Loftis after the meeting was over, but then said the cashier had caught him in a corridor.
“He asked me if I was happy that I was the reason for our schools and hospitals not to be built in South Carolina,” Grooms said.
A reporter asked how he replied and the groom replied, “I know a catfish, which is smaller than you.”
The Loftis service did not answer to give the cashier version to the meeting.