As many as 24,000 Lerner emails irretrievable

OPINION:

As many as 24,000 of Lois Lerner’s missing emails may be lost forever, according to a new report from the Treasury inspector general for tax administration (TIGTA), CNN reports.

TIGTA has reportedly recovered another 1,000 emails from Lerner, who led the Internal Revenue Service when the agency targeted conservative groups. Those emails had not been turned over to the House Oversight Committee.

According to the IRS, Lerner’s hard drive shut down in 2011, making her emails irretrievable. The agency said it simply threw away the hard drive.

“Prior to our investigation and our efforts to recover Ms. Lerner’s missing e-mails; the IRS did not search for, review or examine the two separate sources of backup tapes, the server hard drives, or the loaner laptops that ultimately produced new, previously undisclosed e-mails,” TIGTA will testify to the House Oversight Committee on Thursday, CNN reports.

Meanwhile, reports emerged that the IRS gave $18.8 million in contracts to 17 corporations that owed back taxes, according to a federal report issued Wednesday.

TIGTA said the IRS didn’t have “effective controls in place to prevent the award of contracts to corporations with certain federal tax debt and/or felony convictions.”