Two top executives with the Department of Veterans Affairs invoked the Fifth Amendment in a House hearing Monday, refusing to answer questions about their role in the ongoing relocation scandal.
VA regional office directors Diana Rubens and Kimberly Graves appeared Monday evening before the House Veterans Affairs Committee. They were subpoenaed because the VA prevented them from showing up for the first hearing, but the two pleaded the Fifth and would not answer questions asked by Republican committee chairman Rep. Jeff Miller.
"Sir, I've been advised by counsel not to answer that question to protect my rights under the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution," Rubens said multiple times, according to The Daily Caller.
"I want to make it clear that requiring these individuals or any individual to appear before us today is not done to embarrass them as some have asserted," Miller said Monday at the hearing. "They are here before us today because they are the subjects of this damning report, which was completed at this committee's request."
"This hearing is not a joke, and Ms. Rubens, despite what you reportedly told some of your employees, this is not a show," Miller added.
The VA's inspector general found in a September report that Rubens and Graves abused the interoffice relocation program by reducing their job responsibilities while keeping their six-figure salaries. They also received more than $400,000 taxpayer dollars for relocation expense compensation.
In all, the VA spent $1.5 million on 21 questionable reassignments over the past three years, according to the inspector general report.
The inspector general said it appears as if executives were exploiting the relocation program to get around moratoriums on pay raises, according to the Military Times.
"My suspicion is that this kind of behavior is rampant not only throughout VA but also the rest of the government," Miller said during the hearing.
Ruben and Graves were dismissed after about 40 minutes because they would not answer questions, according to the Star Tribune. Both were referred to the U.S. Attorney's Office for possible criminal prosecution.
