Loss of RTC Equipment Investigated : Inquiry: Computers, fax machines and other tools the agency bought for the Homefed cleanup are missing.

Federal officials are probing the disappearance of valuable computers, facsimile machines and other equipment purchased for the government to use in preparing for the sale of insolvent Homefed Bank in San Diego.

“We have serious allegations of significant amounts of missing equipment,” one government investigator said.

The inquiry focuses on machinery and supplies purchased for the Resolution Trust Corp. by Grant Thornton, a major national accounting firm. The company denies that it has done anything improper, and investigators now suspect that the equipment may have been kept by other contractors.

The investigation underscores the problems the RTC has had in selling the assets of failed savings and loans. The RTC has come under heavy criticism since it was formed by Congress in 1989.

Homefed, once the nation’s eighth-largest thrift, had $13 billion in assets when it was seized by the government in July. Its failure was among the largest in the history of the savings and loan industry. The RTC hopes to sell Homefed’s assets and branch offices by the end of the summer.

The Grant Thornton contract, valued at about $13 million, is only one portion of the RTC’s huge expenditures for “professional fees” since the government seized control of Homefed. The money has been parceled out to a variety of firms to help the RTC prepare for the upcoming sale.

According to an internal Homefed report obtained by The Times, the RTC spent $90.6 million in professional fees from July through March--more than the $84.1 million spent for salary and benefits for the 2,709 employees at the 134 branches of Homefed.

Now the inspector general of the RTC wants to find out what happened to large amounts of equipment bought in connection with the Grant Thornton contract.

In an interview Monday, Burt K. Fischer, the firm’s managing partner, confirmed that the RTC is reviewing the contract, but he said: “At this point, we do not know of any findings that would cause us any concern.

“If there is anything missing, I don’t know about it,” Fischer said.

Grant Thornton billed the government about $13 million under an agreement for “facilities management,” which included space rentals for other RTC contractors that were reviewing billions of dollars worth of assets held by Homefed.

Grant Thornton bought equipment and supplies for other contractors that were reviewing loan files, checking records and preparing inventories.

“Once we procured equipment for a contractor, it was their responsibility,” Fischer said. “There were many contractors there.”

When contractors finished with the machines and other equipment, they were supposed to return them to Grant Thornton, which in turn was supposed to return them to the RTC when the contract was finished, Fischer said.

However, government investigators now believe that some of the contractors kept the equipment. “Computers are out there somewhere and nobody seems to know what happened to them,” one source said.

The RTC’s huge expenses at Homefed have already caused the agency embarrassment. Earlier this year, the RTC confirmed that it had paid one accounting firm 67 cents a page for copying millions of pages of Homefed records. The charge was later reduced to 37 cents a page.