SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A government watchdog has criticized an official’s decision to grant a Central California American Indian tribe federal recognition, which gave it the right to federal benefits and a reservation where it could pursue a casino.

The U.S. Department of Interior’s Office of Inspector General said in a report released Tuesday that it found no discernible process followed by then-Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs Larry Echo Hawk to recognize the Tejon Indian Tribe in 2011 over at least one other group that had submitted a similar application.

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