U.S. Education Department found using government credit cards on personal consumption

The U.S. Department of Education employees was found using government credit cards on their personal consumption, according to a news report on Sunday.

The department's inspector general issued an audit report, saying items and services paid by government credit cards for personal use included meals, items at clothing stores and rental cars and were worth 49,500 U.S. dollars as a whole in the fiscal year 2006, said the Washington Post report.

Taking business travel expenses for instance, the audit report said that a total of 18,256 dollars had been inappropriately used by 34 employees including payments to clothing retailers and restaurants near their homes or office.

Four department employees was found having made 13,570 dollars in credit card withdrawals as the department's travel allowance for meals and incidentals when they weren't on business travel, it added.

For their defense, questioned employees said that they "inadvertently" used the cards to pay for personal expenses or charged meals at local restaurants, according to the report.

By releasing the report, the inspector general office called on the department to improve oversight of travel charge cards that are supposed to be only used for official travel, including to schools, training and conferences.

"Inappropriate use of the travel card ... represents abuse of a government-provided resource, and compromises the integrity of the department," it said.