Navajo Nation controller accused of fraud in COVID-testing contract
Criminal complaints allege abuse of office and money waste in pandemic payments to an unqualified private company
By: Arlyssa Becenti - October 4, 2021 6:48 am
Two criminal complaints against ousted Navajo Nation Controller Pearline Kirk were unsealed Thursday, Sept. 30, alleging that she illegally paid an unaccredited private company to conduct COVID tests early in the pandemic.
The complaints allege that an inexperienced company known as Agile Technologies Group LLC was paid over $3 million of Navajo Nation funds to conduct COVID-19 testing and provide other related services as a contractor, jeopardizing the health, safety, and privacy of the Navajo people and wasting needed resources in the early days of the public health emergency. The chief managing partner of the company used the Nation’s payments to fund an “extravagant and luxurious lifestyle,” according to the Navajo Department of Justice...