FBI director says IRS tax exemption probe a top priority

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - More than a dozen FBI agents are assigned to the criminal investigation into the Internal Revenue Service's added scrutiny of conservative political groups seeking tax-exempt status, FBI Director Robert Mueller said on Wednesday.

"It's a high-priority investigation and it needs to be handled with care, but it also needs to be pushed aggressively because it's a very important case," Mueller told the Senate Judiciary Committee at a hearing.

Attorney General Eric Holder said on May 14 that the FBI had opened a criminal investigation into IRS conduct as the tax agency struggled to review hundreds of applications for tax exemptions from advocacy groups.

The scandal erupted on May 10 when an IRS official apologized for the matter at a Washington legal conference, setting off the FBI probe, congressional investigations and the firing of the acting IRS chief.

An inspector general's report sharply criticized the way the IRS screened conservative groups, saying that IRS employees put at risk the agency's impartiality.

Holder said the criminal investigation would be wide-ranging, examining whether the IRS violated civil rights laws or other protections.

The investigation is being run out of the FBI's Washington Field Office, Mueller said. He declined to say whether it could lead to charges against individuals at the IRS.

(Reporting by David Ingram; Editing by Xavier Briand)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/fbi-director-says-irs-tax-exemption-probe-top-155749439.html

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