The members also tried to address the proposed measure that would make the SP a temporary position, however in the joint oversight hearing conducted by both committees attended by Copeland, Independent Counsel Nelson Werner, Attorney General Ernestine Rengiil and former Ombudsman Moses Uludong almost turned into a showdown.
The hearing was conducted following issues of incompetence hurled against Copeland.
Copeland in his opening statement said that the allegations were a “misstatement of facts.”
“I am here to set the record straight. I am 100 percent right, allegations that have been leveled against me is 100 percent wrong,” Copeland said.
Copeland then went on to narrate the so called “acrimony “ between the SP and OAG but Sen. Joel Toribiong , chair of the JGA committee blocked his attempts to focus on the spat.
Toribiong stopped Copeland from speaking about “a bad blood” between the two offices after Werner questioned the SP’s statement.
Werner said the hearing was supposed to be on the response of Copeland to the OEK.
“If he will speak about the acrimony and disagreement we could be here all day,” Werner said.
Toribiong warned Copeland by asking him to focus on the issue, “the committee will not allow debates.”
Copeland however continued to tell the committee members that it was good for the public that he has resigned from the post.
Copeland earlier resigned from his post citing acrimony with the OAG.
Sen. Surangel Whipps questioned Copeland’s reason for resignation citing that when he was confirmed by the Senate he vowed to stay on the job for five years.
Copeland has only been an SP for over a year.
“I am surprised that you are resigning because of the acrimony. Resigning does not solve the problem,” Whipps said.
Copeland said his investigation of cases has been constantly blocked by the AG.
Whipps however responded by saying, “You should be fired, how can you be helping this government.”
The senator added, “The job is for five years why are you leaving if you think you are doing a good job. You should fight for it and not give up.”
President Johnson Toribiong accepted the resignation of Copeland last week. He willbe serving the position until the end of the month.
The president said to keep the mutual respect between the Office of the Special Prosecutor and the OAG, he decided to accept the resignation of Copeland.
During the hearing, AG Rengiil said that she will continue to do her job and is not going to fight back.
In that hearing however, Rengiil expressed disappointment over Copeland’s statement that she is not doing her job when she has spend so many years serving the country.
Werner said that there is no acrimony between the two agencies. He said its normal for lawyers to argue and stated that “it’s a shame” that Copeland concluded that there was a spat between the two agencies.
“The AG is doing a good job,” Werner said.
There is a pending measure before the OEK that calls for the abolition of the SP office and instead a temporary SP is hired to handle cases which deemed to have a conflict interest with the OAG prosecution.
Toribiong said “this is a fact finding hearing, not a personal venue. We will review the statements and to come up with recommendations what will be done to the offices.”
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