Representative George Holding (R-NC) has introduced new legislation to create a Bureau of Criminal Investigation within main Treasury and move the functions of the Criminal Investigation Division (CI) from under the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to this new Bureau.
In response, the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) National President Nathan Catura issued the following statement:
“We are grateful to Representative Holding for the introduction of this judicious legislation.
"The CI is the 6th largest federal law enforcement agency, and, while they act as the law enforcement arm of the IRS, their needs and responsibilities are infinitely different from the civil operating divisions and offices that make up the majority of the agency.
"By realigning the CI within main Treasury, and no longer requiring they report through the IRS’s civil executive – the Deputy Commissioner – the division will be able to focus the Treasury Department’s law enforcement efforts on high priority criminal violations involving identity theft, cyber-crime, international tax fraud, terrorist financing, public corruption, offshore money laundering and other high impact financial crimes.
"Because of these unique authorities that enable the CI to have jurisdiction over these crimes, the CI cannot be treated as just another operating division within the large civil IRS bureaucracy and should be moved back under main Treasury."
For more information about FLEOA visit www.fleoa.org.
