BANK of Saipan’s rehabilitation is uncertain, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
On top of the other controversies facing the bank, the parties involved are now disputing who controls the financial institution, Attorney General Robert T. Torres said yesterday.
“To say that the bank will be rehabilitated is irresponsible,” he said. “To tell the public that a rehabilitation plan is likely or imminent is neither true nor is it a responsible thing to say.”
He added, “(It) is very likely that the bank may not be able to be rehabilitated and that is the reality that we cannot back away from.”
But Robert O’Connor, lawyer for the bank’s major shareholders, said the ongoing talks to restore the bank’s solvency are “moving.”
“We are making good progress,” he told reporters after emerging yesterday from the closed door discussions.
Commerce Secretary and Banking Commissioner Fermin M. Atalig said the bank’s rehabilitation is “not likely” unless the “picture of the ongoing negotiations is changed.”
Torres said despite these uncertainties the government will continue its efforts to rehabilitate the bank.
“We will be trying and we will keep trying,” he said.
However, Torres said it is not a “foregone conclusion” that the government will adopt the rehabilitation plan proposed by the major shareholders.
Before a rehabilitation plan is implemented, everything has to be “legally sound, (the bank must be) financially stable and the plan is approved by the court with the support of the receiver,” Torres said.
