NY POST

FEDS FAULT WTC FUND

June 6, 2008

Federal officials say the city has not broken the law by fighting the illness claims of thousands of Ground Zero workers, but they cite a lack of oversight of the millions being drained from a $1 billion insurance fund, The Post has learned.

A draft report by the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security says that "while delaying possible relief to those with health problems arising from the debris removal work," the city has the right to use the 9/11 fund to defend itself and its contractors against lawsuits.

However, the report calls for tighter scrutiny of mounting legal and administrative expenditures by the city-governed WTC Captive Insurance Co., which manages the $1 billion fund. In a stunning admission, officials with the Federal Emergency Management Agency who are charged with reviewing the fund said they had little experience with insurance. They also found financial reports "difficult to understand" and barely gave the balance sheets "a really good glance."

The report was "inadvertently posted" on the inspector general's Web site last week - and quickly yanked after The Post obtained a copy, a spokeswoman said.

The IG's probe stems from a July 2006 request by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), who argued that Congress gave the $1 billion to compensate firefighters, cops and other workers with respiratory disease, cancer and other illness tied to 9/11.