KOROR (Palau Horizon) – Special Prosecutor Michael Copeland asked President Johnson Toribiong to consider reconstituting the Office of the Attorney General’s Office (OAG).
Copeland who resigned last week, in his resignation letter accused OAG of failing to provide “the highest level of services to the people, which I strongly believe it presently does not.”
President Johnson Toribiong accepted the resignation of Copeland only on Thursday.Copeland will be serving the position until the end of the month.
A copy of Copeland’s letter dated Feb. 1, he said that his reason for resigning is because of “the obvious and acute animosity between his office and the OAG.”
“I think it is very clear that if I continue as the Special Prosecutor, the contentiousness between OAG and OSP will only escalate. The tension are now very high and the situation could easily spin out of control resulting in a very public and unfortunate situation,” Copeland said.
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.
He said the feud between the two offices are “undermining the confidence of the people.”
He however said he is not putting any blame to any of the offices.
The president has not named any replacement and instead considering the passage of the proposed measure which will abolish the Special Prosecutor’s Office. The measure introduced by Sen. Hokkons Baules proposes that a special counsel handles the SP work on a case-by-case basis.
The president in an interview yesterday has asked Charge d’ Affaires William Berkel to ask the U.S. Department of Justice to provide candidates to Palau for the SP position.
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