Staff Reports
The state’s watchdog just handed Minnesota a blunt, unwelcome mirror. A recent Office of the Legislative Auditor review explains how flaws in licensing, inspections and payment checks allowed roughly $36 million in Medicaid money to flow to group‑home companies tied to a foreign official. The audit doesn’t hunt down criminals. It does show how the system let problems hide in plain sight.
Audit shows the mechanics of failure
The audit from the Office of the Legislative Auditor lays out simple but damning problems. Inspections were often late or skipped. The Department of Health’s licenses and capacity records are messy or missing. The Assisted Living report card that families rely on does not include maltreatment findings. When you put late inspections, poor records and an incomplete public rating together, you get a system that can pay for services it never checked.
How that turns into real money and real harm
Investigative reporters traced about $36 million in state payments to companies linked to Sekou Dukuly, who was listed as director of several Minnesota group homes while working overseas. The reporting found multiple maltreatment probes and even deaths tied to some homes. State agencies have since put payment withholds on the providers and have moved to close homes — a necessary step, but one that comes after the money already left taxpayers’ pockets and after vulnerable residents were at risk.
Fixes are clear — if officials choose to act
The OLA doesn’t just point fingers. It gives a menu of fixes: require on‑time inspections, include maltreatment findings in the public report card, straighten out license and capacity records, improve coordination between the Department of Health and the Department of Human Services, and give regulators clearer enforcement tools. These are not radical ideas. They are common‑sense steps to stop overpayments and protect people who can least protect themselves.
Minnesotans should demand more than polite promises. Governor Tim Walz and agency leaders must push through the audit’s recommendations, the Legislature should grant the tools auditors say are needed, and prosecutors should follow the paper trail if fraud appears. Call it accountability, call it common decency, or call it good government — whatever name you choose, it’s time to fix the holes that let $36 million and the safety of citizens slip through.
