West Virginia Congress Considering Much Needed False Claims Act
From Ring of Fire:
A new bill is making its way through West Virginia’s congressional committees in hopes of providing protection to whistleblowers at the state level. HB4001, or the False Claims and Taxpayer Protection Act of 2014, seeks to help the State of West Virginia’s whistleblowers.
“Whistleblower protections are critically important in preventing corruption,” commented Christopher Paulos, an attorney with the Levin, Papantonio law firm who practices in the areas of qui tam or whistleblower and False Claims Act litigation. “Governments must protect these individuals and use such laws to ensure that the public coffers are not plundered.”
The West Virginia law is designed to encourage whistleblowers to come forward and report their knowledge of entities causing the state government to knowingly pay false claims. The bill further gives authority to the state Attorney General to investigate such reported fraud.
You can read the full article here at Ring of Fire.