Department of Taxation Security Audit Leads to Investigation

Fred Pablo, Director, State of Hawaii Tax Department. File Photo by Wendy Osher.

By Sonia Isotov

The Hawaii State Department of Taxation (DOTAX) announced today that results of a department audit have lead to people being put on administrative leave without pay.

This year, the Department of Taxation (DOTAX) conducted a comprehensive evaluation of its processes and systems, including an audit of its security systems and internal controls. During the audit, DOTAX uncovered incidents of internal security breaches of the Department’s computer tax database that have occurred at least as far back as 2008.

These incidents were immediately referred to the Department of the Attorney General for review and investigation, according to a written statement.

“Protecting the integrity of tax records is a serious matter,” said Fred Pablo, the state tax director, in a written statement. “The possibility of wrongful actions are extremely disturbing, which is why these matters were immediately reported to the Attorney General.”

DOTAX has put a number of people on administrative leave without pay while a complete and thorough investigation is conducted.

The Department says that the pending investigation prevents the Department from issuing any further statements at this time.