Governor Dennis Daugaard says he believes the audits of the state’s EB-5 program and the Governor’s Office of Economic Development will not turn up any major wrongdoing
The EB-5 program allows wealthy foreigners to acquire visas when they invest a half million dollars in a rural area. The program was used in conjunction with the GOED to fund the now bankrupt Northern Beef Packers plant in Aberdeen.
One of the key players in the project, Richard Benda, was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound in October. Daugaard says Benda had been double expensing the state, either by accident or on purpose. The governor says he ordered three separate audits to look at state finances in relation to the issue. The audits examine records back to 2009. Governor Daugaard says he welcomes outside eyes on the process.
“And I expect that these audits will make recommendation for change that will help us improve and that’s good. Do I think they will uncover some wholesale illegality or wrongdoing, no, I don’t think so. I might be wrong but I doubt it. I think the vast majority of people in South Dakota are honest. The vast majority of state employees are honest. There might be one percent that makes a mistake, there might be one-tenth of one percent that does something wrong. If we can change our procedures to catch that one-tenth of one percent well than let’s change them,” says Daugaard.
But critics say the Governor isn’t going far enough in the investigation. They say the audits should be more independent, and they should dive deeper into the past when the EB-5 program began to operate. Some state lawmakers say they will introduce special legislation if the audits reports aren’t made available in a timely matter.