THE Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Attorney’s Office should investigate the allegations surrounding the BOOST program, Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo said in his recent ruling in the contempt of Legislature case against Shayne Villanueva.
“The Court does not deny [that] the Commonwealth has proper jurisdiction over this matter of legislative contempt,” the judge said. “However, as the BOOST program involves federal funding, the FBI, in collaboration with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, would have been better equipped to investigate and prosecute allegations of corruption in federal court,” the judge added.
Noting the recusal of Presiding Judge Roberto C. Naraja from the case, and Judge Govendo’s decision to disqualify Assistant Attorney General James Kingman from prosecuting the case, Judge Govendo said, “Our local legal community’s small size and interconnectedness warrant FBI involvement, ensuring external prosecution that would have helped secure impartiality and prevent further delays hindering the pursuit of justice. The potential biases or conflicts of interest were too pervasive to handle impartially, as the motions for the recusal of Naraja and Kingman have proven.”
Judge Govendo said, “The chaotic process has harmed the service of justice.”
He said he had to “rebuild the comprehensive understanding of the case that Judge Naraja had developed over the last eight months.”
“Reassignment has imposed significant burdens on our already constrained judicial system,” Judge Govendo added.
He said he had to go through the time-consuming process of reviewing the entire case file and familiarizing himself with its procedural history.
“Case reassignment forced the Court to reexamine all prior rulings to ensure consistent case management throughout the proceedings. In addition, as [Presiding Judge Naraja] expressed before his recusal … the proceedings between both parties have been very acrimonious to date, burdening the Court with personal attacks and other disruptive conduct. Rather than ascertaining the alleged criminal liability of the defendant, the proceedings have devolved into a personal [mudslinging] match between opposing counsels,” Judge Govendo said.
Background
Shayne Villanueva was charged with contempt of Legislature. He has pled not guilty.
His bench trial, originally set for Nov. 6, 2024, had been rescheduled for Dec. 3, 2024. But because the parties informed Judge Govendo of other pending motions, he rescheduled the trial for Jan. 27, 2025.
The case was reassigned to Judge Govendo after Presiding Judge Naraja recused himself from the case. The judge is the uncle of Rep. Ralph N. Yumul, the chair of the House special committee that found Villanueva in contempt of the Legislature.
Villanueva was charged with contempt of Legislature after he invoked his Fifth Amendment right when asked questions about BOOST by a House special committee.
BOOST stands for “Building Optimism, Opportunities and Stability Together,” a $17 million federally funded program.
Villanueva is the owner of Roil Soil Marketing, which the administration of then-Gov. Ralph DLG Torres contracted to help implement BOOST in 2022.
In his order on Dec. 4, 2024, Judge Govendo sanctioned and disqualified Assistant AG Kingman from the case.
Judge Govendo also denied Kingman’s motion to quash the subpoena for him to testify as a witness in the trial, saying that the prosecutor’s motion was “not well-founded.”
“Kingman should not remain the prosecutor for this matter to ensure procedural integrity and due process for all parties throughout the court,” the judge added.
In his order, he reprimanded Kingman and ordered him to pay a $500 fine for violating the model rules of professional conduct, specifically for “abusing his prosecutorial power and authority, which led to his forced recusal for bias and lack of impartiality.”
Likewise, Judge Govendo reprimanded Villanueva’s attorney, Keith Chambers, and ordered him to pay a $500 fine for violating the model rules of professional conduct, specifically for “harming the administration of justice and wasting resources by withholding crucial information and inconveniencing other parties.”
Both lawyers were ordered to pay the fine by Dec. 27, 2024.
On Capital Hill
In a news release on Jan. 24, 2023, Rep. Marissa Flores, the chair of the House Committee on Judiciary and Governmental Operations, stated that after conducting several legislative fact-finding hearings pertaining to BOOST, the House had “transmitted documents and recordings to several CNMI investigative agencies, including the Office of the Public Auditor and the Office of the Attorney General….”
On the federal side, Flores said, “in response to the facts initially brought to light by the [House], the Federal Bureau of Investigations recently executed a subpoena at the Bank of Saipan. The FBI’s seizure of substantial documents has resulted in the suspension of the BOOST program.”
Since then, there have been no updates on any federal investigation into the BOOST program.
