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FORMER DEFENSE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL TO PAY CIVIL FORFEITURE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A former official of the Inspector General's Office at the Department of Defense agreed today to pay a civil forfeiture to settle a Justice Department claim that he had a conflict of interest for work he did after he retired from the Pentagon.

Derek J. Vander Schaaf of Falls Church, Virginia, a former Deputy Inspector General, agreed to pay $12,125, the amount in fees he received as a private consultant hired by a DOD contractor, Concurrent Technologies Associates. Vander Schaaf retired in March 1996 and was hired as a private contractor in 1997.

Federal conflict of interest laws bar former government officials to be hired for two years by firms doing business to influence their previous employers.

The civil claim was filed in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia. The case was supervised by the Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section and investigated by the FBI and the Defense Criminal Investigative Service of the DOD Inspector General's Office.

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