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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — All the Navajo Nation’s credit cards, the so-called “p-cards” using the tribe’s external funds, have been suspended for 30 days effective last Friday, the Navajo Times reported.

The 30-day suspension was announced in a Feb. 29 memo from Elsie Julian, purchase care supervisor in the tribal controller’s office, and was signed by President Ben Shelly, Chief Justice Herb Yazzie and Council Speaker Johnny Naize, the Times said.

Julian didn’t explain why use of the cards was being suspended, but Council Budget and Finance Committee Chairman LoRenzo Bates said last week that the tribal leaders agreed to the suspension because there was a “possibility” that the p-cards were being misused, the paper reported.

External funds are revenue the tribal government receives from state and federal governments through grants and contracts and make up about 44 percent of the tribe’s annual budget, according to the Times.

The cards also are funded with tribal money, which is revenue generated by tribal taxes, rights-of-way, leases, court fines and fees, as well as natural resources such as coal, gas, timber and others, the Times said.

Officials said more than 1,500 cards have been issued to tribal employees, the paper reported.

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