Probe Begins Over Indian Affairs Office Alligation

The U.S. Interior Department's inspector general and Congress' General Accounting Office are launching probes into alleged conflicts of interest involving officials of the Sacramento-based regional office of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Interior Department investigators plan to begin interviews and gathering documents Wednesday -- after the Associated Press disclosed that regional BIA officials opened the membership roll of the Ione Band of Miwok Indians and authorized a new leadership election when they stood to gain personally from those decisions.

Meanwhile, the FBI has assigned a new case agent to review allegations of alleged BIA conflicts and influence-peddling involving the Buena Vista Me-Wuk band -- a nearby but unrelated Amador County tribe that also is seeking a casino.

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