UPDATE: Roy McGrath has been indicted on federal and state charges – details here.

Original story below…

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ANNAPOLIS, MD—Governor Larry Hogan on Tuesday issued the following statement:

“It has recently come to light that the Maryland Environmental Service has a longstanding practice of paying large bonuses, expense reimbursements, and severance packages to its top executives. This is something no normal state-operated agency should or would ever grant.

“To be clear, I did not approve, recommend, or have any involvement whatsoever in any of these decisions made by the board of directors of MES with respect to the former director Roy McGrath or any other individual.

“The new acting director Charles Glass, who has been leading MES since June, has committed to conducting a top-to-bottom review of this entity’s operations, and has already taken steps to begin to address many of these structural problems.

“While it is the legislature’s responsibility to do audits of MES, today I have directed the Department of Budget and Management to also immediately conduct its own audit of this independent agency.

“The current operating and oversight structure of MES was established by the General Assembly in 1993. Our intention is to work with the legislature in a bipartisan way on legislation to reform the governance and operations of MES in order to provide for stronger oversight by both the executive and legislative branches.”