I know that in accounting there are some very clear rules about being hired by a company you were previously meant to help oversee. According to [this](http://pcaobus.org/Standards/EI/Documents/ISB3.pdf) (I don't have personal experience as to how things work in the real world) if an accountant is hired by a company they had audited in the past year their work has to be reviewed by a group of auditors unconnected with the work that had been done. The auditor is also legally required to publicly disclose any employment conversations they've had with someone they've audited and for any financial ties linking the audit company with the new company to be broken.
The point is that this is a concern whenever you're moving from a place of privilege and trust to the person you were meant to be regulating (okay, it's not exactly regulating with audit). This is doubly so for government because of the extent of their power and potential for abuse. What are the laws regarding conflict of interest here? What's the waiting period for switching jobs? What reviews are done to ensure everything is above board? Because the article makes it sound as if there was no review and if there was, they'd have shown some fishy coincidences.
The point is that this is a concern whenever you're moving from a place of privilege and trust to the person you were meant to be regulating (okay, it's not exactly regulating with audit). This is doubly so for government because of the extent of their power and potential for abuse. What are the laws regarding conflict of interest here? What's the waiting period for switching jobs? What reviews are done to ensure everything is above board? Because the article makes it sound as if there was no review and if there was, they'd have shown some fishy coincidences.