By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

REPRESENTATIVE Stanley T. Torres Jr. on Wednesday filed an Open Government Act request asking for documents from the Commonwealth Development Authority to verify information received by his office that CDA is converting employees’ sick leave into cash, which he says violates existing policy.
The request was addressed to CDA’s acting chief executive officer Oscar Camacho.
Torres, Ind.-Saipan, said he wants a detailed report on the financial transactions of CDA and its umbrella organization, the Northern Marianas Housing Corp.
The lawmaker specifically asked for “any and all documents that entail the unaudited financial statements of CDA/NMHC for the years 2001 to 2006.”
In an interview last week, Torres said his office received information that CDA was providing illegal lump sum payments to its employees.
He said it is his duty as a lawmaker to protect taxpayers’ money from abuses.
Torres said a letter dated Feb. 3 from an anonymous sender provided him with information regarding the issue, and included a letter signed by an officer of CDA requesting a follow up of the Office of the Public Auditor’s audit.
Torres said OPA claims that there was no letter that requested an investigation of CDA.
He said he will bring the matter to the attention of the House of Representatives and the Senate which can form a task force to investigate these alleged illegal lump sum payments.
“The important thing here is that we’ve been given information for us to work on,” he said. “This is a serious case and we must look into it. If OPA or (the Attorney General’s Office) cannot look into this because of manpower shortages, perhaps a legislative task force can do the job.”