European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 03, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday. Septembers 1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 Hud problems still exist audit finds Kemp w/7/ unveil Reform package Washington a housing Secretary Jack Kemp has failed to quickly implement reforms in a single family Home program leaving it mismanaged and Ripe for fraud according to an internal Hud audit. But a Hud spokesman said it was unfair to consider the report s criticisms a reflection on Kemp because he took Over the Agency Only one month after the audit period began. Although the report praises Kemp s commitment to ridding he department of housing and Urban development of mismanagement it Sai some of the blame for the slow Pace of improvements in the program rests at Agency Headquarters. Problems still exist and will continue to exist unless there is a coordinated leadership drive by the Var ious offices in Headquarters who arc responsible for property disposition activities the auditors said in an aug. 25 report obtained by the associated press. " this leadership and coordination was not apparent during our review which covered the january May period. Hud officials said saturday that Kemp took Over the Agency Only in february and did not Leam of prob lems in the single family Home program until april and thus it was unfair to consider the report a reflection on his leadership. The Hud inspector general told us unequivocally that in no Way shape or form is this criticism directed at  said Hud spokesman Jack Flynn. Flynn earlier said that further reforms in the pro Gram will be part of a Reform package that Kemp will announce later this month. It would t be fair to try and determine after just six months just How successful the Secretary s Reform actions have been Flynn said. But we also know that Many longstanding problems remain and Hud s inspector general is a key player on the Secre tary s team. We will review these findings  the audit focused on eight Hud Field offices and their handling of a program that has received consider Able attention during the recent investigations of mis management fraud and influence peddling at Hud during the Reagan administration. A 1987 nationwide review of Hud s sales and acquisitions of single family properties found that Many private closing agents hired by Hud were late in pay ing the Agency millions of dollars and in some cases weren t paying at All. Among the agents was a Man land woman dubbed Robin Hud after she said she kept More than $5 million that belonged to the Agency and gave some of it to Charity. That audit blamed most of the problems on out dated accounting systems and lax monitoring of Clos ing agents. A dozen agents arc under investigation and several arc being sued to recover Money that Hud says is owed. There is Little visible improvement in the system the auditors said in the new report praising Kemp s initiatives but saying that the Agency and particularly its Field offices have been slow to implement them. The most serious transgression the auditors said was that some Field offices still Aren t requiring closing agents to submit proof that the Money due Hud was wired to the Agency. Delays in the submission of sales proceeds and sales packages still exist and in some cases available evidence indicates that Large amounts of Money have been  the auditors said. In Only 155 of the 448 cases examined during the audit did Hud receive its Money on time. Of the late payments 38 were made 20 Days or More late. Hud loses interest when it receives late Money but the report did t estimate How much was lost because of the late payments covered by the audit. Of those transactions 121 were handled by the fort Worth Texas office and Hud received its Money on time in just 21 cases. Some of the payments were up to two years overdue the auditors said. Nearly $200,000 was recovered because of the audit the report said. Another s173,478 was recovered from Florida Clos ing agents during the audit which included a review of Hud s Tampa Field office the report said. An Indianapolis closing agent still owes the Agency $257,000, but the report did t identify the agent. Cosmonaut s preparation Alexander Victorenko commander of a soviet space voyage scheduled for wednesday helps flight Engineer Al expander Serbrov test a Spac walking suit. The flight of the soyuz Tai-8 Hill be to the Mir Orbital station. Defense consultant pleads guilty to fraud in Dod contract Case Washington a a defense consultant admitted Friday that he Soldo Uniss corp. Confidential bid information about a Pentagon contract for $24,750 and shared the proceeds with a fellow consultant. William j. Sanda 53, pleaded guilty in . District court in Alexandria. Va.,to a charge of conspiring to defraud the government in connection with the Sale of information to Uniss in 1987. The information concerned a $100 million Marine corps contract. Sanda who was president of strategic systems Institute of Rockville md., agreed to cooperate with the Justice department s continuing investigation of defense department procurement fraud dubbed operation 111 wind. . District judge Claude Hilton scheduled sentencing for dec. I. Sanda could receive a five year prison term and be fined up to $250,000. His guilty plea signals that the Justice department is preparing to expand its investigation to include current and for Mer Uniss executives based in Eagan minn., who sought confidential bid in formation on a contract to build shelters for sophisticated communications and electronic equipment used by the Marine corps. Uniss spokesman Peter Hynes declined to comment on Sanda s guilty plea but said the company is cooperating with the probe. Sanda admitted that he agreed in March 1987 to be u front Man for Fel Low consultant William Parkin. Under their arrangement Sanda agreed to take a third of the fee that uni sys paid while Parkin would receive Theresa for providing the inside information. Parkin 65, has been sentenced to 26 months in prison and fined $25,000 for his role in the procurement scandal. His cooperation with the investigation appears to have helped prosecutors to bring the charge against Sanda. According to court papers Sanda first approached an Ria employee and offered to provide bid information about competitors. Sanda later reported to Par Kin that he was unable to work out a Deal with Ria one of several companies bid Ding on the contract. Sanda soon reported hat a Unis Scorp. Marketing representative expressed interest in purchasing information. The Uniss corp. Official was not named but had been identified in court papers unsealed earlier this year As marketing executive Ralph Hughes who syncs said left the company in Decem Ber 1988. Sanda showed Hughes a Sample of the bid information later reporting to Par Kin that Hughes believed that Sanda had an inside source at the Pentagon according to Couit papers. Uniss paid Sanda $19,500 under a consulting contract on aug. 19. 1987. According to the court papers Sand cheated Parkin out of $1,000 by telling his fellow consultant that Uniss had Only paid $ 18,000. Sanda gave Parkin $ 12,000 instead of $13,000, which would have been the two thirds share of $19,500, according to court papers. Parkin gave,$6,000 to Thomas Muldoon another defense con sullans who court papers say was the source of the bid documents the court papers said. Muldoon has been implicated but not charged in the "111 wind probe. After receiving the first payment. Sanda reported that the Uniss executive again identified in earlier court filings As Hughes told him of a complaint to the Navy that Uniss had hired Sanda to gain an unfair Edge in the contract Competition. Hughes had told Sanda that Uniss would have to fill a file Cabinet with data to support the Contention that Sanda was doing technical work for the company according to court papers. Sanda later reported to Parkin thai a Uniss vice president not identified inthe court papers suggested firing Sanda because of the complaint but the com Pany decided against that move to avoid the appearance of being engaged in wrongdoing