The executive director of the Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission is under investigation in California for allegedly failing to declare travel payments.

A formal, sworn complaint against Richard Schuetz was filed with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission in July last year, less than two months before he came to Bermuda to head up the publicly funded regulatory body. Jay Wierenga, the FPPC’s communications director, told The Royal Gazette yesterday that the investigation was still under way.

According to official documents obtained by this newspaper from the FPPC, Mr Schuetz was made aware of the complaint on July 29 and was told an investigation had been launched on August 12.

His contract in Bermuda began on September 1 and the commission began work on October 1 at its premises in Crawford House, on Church Street.

The complaint against Mr Schuetz was filed by Jason Krause, founder of a group called Examine California.

Mr Krause alleged that Mr Schuetz, then a commissioner at the California Gambling Control Commission, “may not have fully reported travel payments on his annual Statements of Economic Interests” in violation of the Political Reform Act.

Public officials in California have to file a “Form 700” detailing relevant financial interests, such as property, business positions, business ownership, investments, income and gifts.

They must report gifts worth more than $460, including gifts of travel, although some travel payments are not reportable. Certain other travel payments are reportable, but are not subject to the $460 gift limit.

Form 700 is required, according to the FPPC, to “give the public the ability to see the financial interests of their public officials to ensure the officials are making decisions to best serve the public and not acting in their own financial interests”.

The FPPC investigates alleged violations of the Act and can issue administrative fines to officials of up to $5,000 if it concludes that a violation has been committed.

Mr Krause’s complaint, submitted under penalty of perjury, claimed that in 2012, 2013 and 2014, Mr Schuetz may have failed to report travel payments. It compared a list of 30 of his “known trips” with his Form 700 for each year and claimed 24 of the trips were not reported.

“Commissioner Schuetz has taken a large number of trips, some in connection with giving a speech,” Mr Krause wrote.

“If any of the trips were paid for by any of the inviting entities, and the costs were above the reportable threshold, they would be reportable on the commissioner’s Statements of Economic Interests.

“The purpose of a statement of economic interests is to ensure the public is aware of any potential conflicts of interest a public official may have.

If financial disclosure statements are not complete, the public is deprived of that information and conflicts of interest can go unchecked.”

The complaint was filed on July 9 last year and on July 29, the FPPC’s chief of enforcement, Galena West, wrote to Mr Schuetz to tell him it was considering an investigation. She wrote again on August 12 to say that because his response to her first letter “did not include evidence to rebut the allegations” an investigation had been initiated.

“At this time, we have not made any determination regarding the allegations in the complaint,” Ms West wrote.

Mr Wierenga said yesterday: “Most of our investigations and cases are resolved within a year [and] about 60 per cent of them in 180 days.

“Obviously, there are some that take longer because of various circumstances, such as complexity of the case, co-operation of those involved, availability of documents, witnesses, etc.”

The Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission’s expenditure on travel since its inception came under scrutiny in Parliament a week ago, with junior tourism minister Kenneth Bascome revealing that almost $50,000 had been spent.

Opposition MP Zane DeSilva questioned why Mr Schuetz had “a more expensive travel schedule than necessary”.

Mr Schuetz told this newspaper on Wednesday that he would not be able to answer a question about the California complaint, and other questions regarding the Bermuda Casino Gaming Commission, until commission chairman Alan Dunch returned to the island next week.

Mr Dunch said in an e-mail: “I will be more than happy to sit down with you when I am back on island next week and answer any questions you might have.”

It was not possible to reach Mr Krause or anyone at Examine California.

The group’s website appears not to have been updated recently and a telephone number listed there for Mr Krause did not work.