Audit finds discrepancies associated with building leased by ND Attorney General’s office

BISMARCK, N.D. (KFGO) – An audit requested by the Legislature’s Audit and Fiscal Review Committee has shed more light on a nearly $2 million cost overrun on a building in Bismarck leased by the North Dakota Attorney General’s Office.

The audit found that Republican State Rep. Jason Dockter of Bismarck is a co-owner of the building, which was leased while Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem was still in office. He died last January.

Additionally, the audit found that the leased office building did not have enough space for all the divisions of the Attorney General’s office and extensive remodeling was done by a company also co-owned by Dockter, which does not have a contractor’s license. The work was actually completed by subcontractors.

The company does not have a contractor’s license and there were not invoices to support some of the payments made for the work.