South Carolina comptroller to resign after $3.5B error

COLUMBIA, S.C. — Embattled South Carolina Comptroller Normal Richard Eckstrom will resign subsequent month after a $3.5 billion accounting error within the year-end monetary report he oversaw.

The state’s chief accountant will depart the elected publish he has held for 20 years on April 30, in line with a replica of the resignation letter obtained by The Related Press.

“I’ve by no means taken service to the state I like or the roles to which I’ve been elected evenly, endeavoring to work with my colleagues, from constitutional officers to members of the Normal Meeting, to be a powerful defender of the taxpayer and an excellent steward of their hard-earned tax {dollars},” Eckstrom wrote within the March 23 letter to South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster. “They deserve nothing much less.”

The blunder’s revelation final month introduced mounting scrutiny. Home lawmakers known as for an impeachment inquiry. The Senate panel investigating the error issued a damning report final week that prompt Eckstrom resign or face removing “for willful neglect of responsibility.”

Senators’ report rested accountability for the mapping error that started through the state’s transition to a brand new inner data system solely with Eckstrom. State officers testified that Ecksrom ignored auditors’ yearslong warnings of a “materials weak point” in his workplace and flawed money reporting.