THE House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations will submit the findings of its investigation to the Attorney General’s Office, Rep. Celina Babauta said.
Chaired by Babauta, the committee is conducting a series of hearings on Gov. Ralph DLG Torres’ public expenditures.
In an interview, she said once their investigation is completed and the committee has approved the findings, “we will most definitely” provide the AG’s office with a copy of the findings.
The investigation began in the 21st House after then-Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao created a bipartisan Special Committee on Fiscal Review of Executive Expenditures.
Chaired by Rep. Ralph N. Yumul, the Republican members of the special committee recommended that the relevant documents, testimony, and records it had gathered “be transmitted to the CNMI Office of the Public Auditor as the constitutional body entrusted with the audit of the receipt, possession, and disbursement of public funds.”
The minority bloc members of the committee, however, issued their own report that they said “points to a pattern of waste, abuse, and possible fraud” as well as “questionable” expenses on the part of the governor.
A member of the bipartisan special committee, Rep. Tina Sablan, said they provided the AG’s office with a copy of the then-minority bloc’s report, but did not receive a response from the AG’s office.
In the current Legislature, Sablan is a member of the House JGO committee, which has only one Republican member, Vice Speaker Blas Jonathan Attao.
According to Babauta, “We would like the AG to look into all our findings to see if there is probable cause to file charges.”
Babauta said she is “extremely confident there are violations of laws” committed by the governor in his expenditures of public funds, including first and business-class off-island travels and reimbursements.
Inventory list
For her part, Rep. Tina Sablan said she would like to clarify that not all items that the governor bought in the states were on the inventory list that Special Assistant for Administration Mathilda “Keko” Rosario submitted to the bipartisan special committee last year.
Sablan said there were “quite a few items” that Rosario mentioned in her testimony last week that were not on the inventory list.
None of the items bought from Sportsman’s Warehouse were recorded in the inventory, Sablan said.
According to Sablan, rifle cases, a Windburner stove system, other camping/hunting-related accessories, Jabra headsets and GoPro accessories are among the items that Rosario said were not on the inventory list.
Celina R. Babauta
