D.C. tax office officials as far back as 1999 approved six-figure checks to an apparently bogus company whose name has surfaced in a widening corruption probe, records obtained by The Examiner show.

Eight checks made out to or put in the care of a company called “Bellarmine” totaling more than $2.4 million suggest that an alleged scam by tax office employees date the growing scandal to a time when the Office of Tax and Revenue was overseen by Natwar Gandhi, who is now the city’s chief financial officer.