State auditor accuses tax department of obstructing investigation

ALBUQUERQUE — State Auditor Tim Keller on Wednesday publicly accused employees of the state Taxation and Revenue Department of obstructing an investigation of alleged malfeasance by their Cabinet secretary, Demesia Padilla.

Soon afterward, a spokesman for Padilla repeated a line from the governor’s administration, calling Keller’s accusation “a media stunt.” Padilla’s spokesman said Keller had ready access to people and documents but declined to interview “those at the center of this issue.”

The auditor’s investigation of Padilla began with an anonymous tip on the agency’s fraud hotline in February. This led Keller’s office to investigate an allegation that Padilla used her position as a Cabinet secretary to pressure employees and obtain preferential treatment for a taxpayer who was a former client of Padilla’s. She operated an accounting firm in Albuquerque before taking the helm of the Taxation and Revenue Department in 2011.

Keller’s office hired McHard Accounting Consulting LLC to investigate the complaint against Padilla. That contract, issued April 24 and amended in late May, was for up to $12,300.

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