Attorney General Bill Lockyer Issues Statement on DOIT Investigation

Thursday, May 2, 2002
Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

(SACRAMENTO) – Attorney General Bill Lockyer issued the following statement regarding the investigation of the Department of Information Technology:

"Today, I sent a DOJ law enforcement team to DOIT to investigate allegations of document shredding. I took this action immediately upon being informed about this serious matter by the Governor's Legal Affairs Secretary.

Because there are investigations into the Oracle Enterprise License Agreement, any destruction of documents, e-mail and other materials that may be associated with the Oracle contract could pose the potential for obstruction of justice.

In addition to probing the allegations of document destruction, my team of special agents, computer forensic specialists and attorneys from our Criminal Law Division, with the consent of the Governor's office, will be removing equipment and materials from DOIT to preserve evidence in our investigation.

I also have asked the Governor's Secretary of Legal Affairs to take steps necessary to ensure that affected state departments and agencies preserve all documents and computer files that may be material to our investigation."

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