By Moneth G. Deposa
Variety News Staff

THE Office of the Public Auditor is now looking into the Saipan Higher Educational Financial Assistance program after being requested to do so by Vice Speaker Justo S. Quitugua, D-Saipan.
Public Auditor Michael Sablan, in an interview yesterday, said his office is completing a “preliminary review” of the program’s financial transactions.
“We received (Quitugua’s request in January and we’re nearly finished with the preliminary review which…will tell us if we have reasons to conduct an audit on SHEFA,” Sablan told Variety.
Saipan Local Law 13-21 provided initial funding of $1.2 million for SHEFA which is under the office of the island’s mayor.
This was increased by the Legislature to $3.2 million and an additional $200,000 for the program’s administrative operations.
Quitugua said since 2005, his office has been receiving complaints about how the SHEFA funds are being used.
“It was last year when I started looking at SHEFA’s records and I saw some indications that there was a need to look into the program’s accountability,” Quitugua said in a separate interview.
“The staff are finalizing the review and by Tuesday, the results of the preliminary review will be presented to (the vice speaker),” Sablan said.
He said he is hoping that whatever the findings of the review, “we will see the support of the Legislature.”
Quitugua said he will introduce appropriate legislation if OPA’s findings disclose “discrepancies and anomalies.”
Quitugua is the author of House Bill 15-18 which proposes to restrict the SHEFA board’s functions.
“It also tightens the qualifications of the board members. As I remember, this (proposal) was opposed by the board itself,” Quitugua said.
A SHEFA scholar receives $2,100 in financial assistance and an additional $1,000 if he or she has a 3.75 GPA.
“I want to know if…this (program) is being run in the interests of the students and in accordance with local laws,” Quitugua said.
He added that the number of SHEFA recipients will increase “as more and more students graduate from our high schools.”