Photo: State Auditor's Office
(Des Moines, IA) -- A state audit has found the recently ousted leader of the Iowa Veterans Home in Marshalltown padded his pay. The audit, done between 2017 and 2021 found Commandant Timon Oujiri's timesheets showed 112 hours instead of 80-hours in the State's payroll system. The result was more than $105,000 in improper disbursements, including more than $90,000 of gross wages paid to Oujiri and more than $15,000 of related payroll costs.
The investigation also found that Iowa Veterans Home officials had not filed a wage adjustment with IPERS to recover contributions made to IPERS for unauthorized wages issued to Oujiri.
The IVH is seeking to recover the funds.
Copies of the report have been filed with the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the Marshall County Attorney's Office, the Polk County Attorney's Office, and the Iowa Attorney General's Office.
Findings will also be shared with federal officials.
Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds replaced Oujiri this week, naming Major Matthew Peterson as the new Commandant.
“Former commandant Oujiri’s employment was terminated effective May 5, 2021, due to job performance issues. Because the underlying issues were financial in nature, the matter was referred to the Auditor’s Office and resulted in the report filed today. We are working with the Attorney General’s Office to recover any overpayments received by Oujiri while employed for the State of Iowa.” - Pat Garrett, spokesman for the governor’s office.