South Carolina Governor Haley May Be Indicted On Tax Charges...businessinsider.com
Governor Nikki Haley, just where is all that missing money?..../freakoutnation.com
ABC News confirmed- No IRS Investigation into SC Governor Nikki Haley
March 30, 2011
Ashok Gupta- NYC/ Gary Singh-
Los Angeles
Logan Smith, editor of Palmetto Public Record, stands by his sources' claim that Haley will soon be indicted for tax fraud.
Yesterday, Palmetto Public Record exclusively reported that the Internal Revenue Service has been investigating since March of 2011 the Sikh worship center run by Gov. Haley’s father. At least five lawsuits have been filed against the Sikh Society of South Carolina since 2010, alleging that the group bilked contractors out of nearly $130,000 for the construction of a new temple.Gov. Haley is reported to have managed the temple’s finances as late as 2003, and our sources believe any indictment would center on what happened to the missing money.
palmettopublicrecord.org wrote:
Palmetto Public Record reported yesterday afternoon that three independent sources told us South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley could soon be indicted by the U.S. Department of Justice. As part of our reporting of the statements, we shared all the documents we could find connected to an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service into the finances of a Sikh temple run by Gov. Haley’s father.
We released the 2011 IRS letter informing temple officials that federal investigators intended to look into the group’s financial dealings, requesting documents ad scheduling a meeting at the temple last spring. We also posted evidence that the group openly supported Haley’s 2010 campaign for governor, which would have been a violation of its tax-exempt status as a religious nonprofit.
Yesterday afternoon, we told you about five lawsuits filed against the temple by contractors alleging they’d been stiffed out of nearly $130,000 in the construction of a new temple that still hasn’t been built. The temple was supposed to be paid for by a $750,000 loan (taken out with the help of a bank president later rewarded by the governor with a political appointment), leaving us with one underlying question: what happened to the money?
Gov. Haley took to Facebook late last night to accuse us of lying, even though everything we posted was either public record or reliably-obtained documents — none of which have been challenged as untrue — or chatter which anyone even reasonably connected to this notoriously corrupt state will tell you is widespread among South Carolina’s political class.
Late Friday afternoon, the governor’s office released a letter from Eric Hall of the IRS’ legislative affairs office stating that the agency closed its inquiry last fall after finding nothing meriting further investigation (a hat tip to Stephen Largen of the Post & Courier for making it public, and we gladly would have printed it earlier if the governor’s office sent it to us).
We would like to note that dozens of reporters and observers have parsed — many incorrectly — our words regarding what Palmetto Public Record heard and wrote about a possible indictment. Given the furor which gripped many who followed our story, everyone from close friends to national reporters have been asking for comment, so here it is
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ABC News has learned that the Internal Revenue Service never conducted an investigation into South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s involvement in a Sikh temple’s finances. Nanette Downing, Director of EO Examinations, stated in the letter, “…we did not conduct an examination for the above period (tax year ended 2009)”.
Haley adamantly denied the allegations.Haley said:
- She was never an accountant for the temple.
- She has nothing to do with the temple. His dad and the Indian community started the temple, not him.
- There is no truth. She never did a deposit. She never wrote a check. She never touched the books. She never had anything to do with it.
- She’s being smeared once again by another blogger posting “lies” and spreading “trash” about her online.
- Sorry fellas,“I’m not going anywhere no matter how many lies you put on a blog.”
- The days of dirty blogger politics will come to an end when people stop paying these guys to spread trash
Rumors have spread since the Internal Revenue Service sent a letter in March 2011 to the Sikh Religious Society of South Carolina informing them that they would audit the organization.
She told The State newspaper in Columbia that she’s never been involved with the society.
 South Carolina political blogger Logan Smith: launched his website, Palmetto Public Record, about four months ago. Smith’s website crashed Thursday due to the thousands of visitors who were reading his stories. He took to social media Friday, denying the allegations.He said:
- The social media reaction just shows how uncertain people are about Haley.
- It’s indicative of how worried everyone is of this governor’s reputation — that they would be so up in arms
- I feel that my sources are reliable and I wouldn’t post anything if I didn’t
- South Carolina has a unique political system in that it’s just very politically or emotionally high-charged
- He himself as a progressive and he has no personal reasons to go after Haley.
Harvie Nachlinger, USC journalism professor who taught Smith in introduction to reporting and in senior semester said:
- Smith was an “excellent student."
- He was a very good student and very well-versed in journalism and keeping opinion out of news stories
- Smith worked at WIS-TV, Columbia's NBC affiliate, for five years. He left in December to start Palmetto Public Record.
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