THE Attorney General’s Office yesterday disclosed that the administrations of Froilan C. Tenorio and Pedro P. Tenorio failed to prosecute two criminal cases referred by the Office of Public Auditor involving alleged illegal conduct by some public officials.
Attorney General Robert T. Torres said both cases could no longer be prosecuted due to the statute of limitations.
Then Public Auditor Leo LaMotte submitted OPA’s findings to AGO in 1997.
The first case involved the alleged improper use of a government rescue boat in which passengers were transported to and from political fund-raising events. The second case is the alleged misuse of payroll by former officials of the Rota Mayor’s Office.
Froilan C. Tenorio was the governor then, while Joseph S. Inos was the Rota mayor. Pedro P. Tenorio, who was the CNMI’s chief executive from 1982 to 1990, became governor again from 1998 to 2002.
“We find this set of circumstances disturbing, outrageous (and) unconscionable for the people of the CNMI,” Torres said during a press conference.
He said his office and Chief Prosecutor Clyde Lemons had to apologize to OPA, its investigators, and to the people of the CNMI for “dropping the ball” in these cases.
According to Torres, they are conducting an internal investigation to determine who in AGO should be held responsible for the inaction.
Lemons said the cases were brought to his attention only last month. The statute of limitations is only four years, he added.
Lemons said the first case involved the MV Challenger, a luxury liner that the CNMI government purchased for rescue operations, emergency services and law enforcement purposes.
However, the ship’s director ordered the crew to transport political supporters of the then governor from Tinian to Saipan on one occasion and from Rota to Saipan on another time.
Investigation further revealed that the ship’s log had been falsified to indicate that the vessel was conducting government business, Lemons added.
The second case involved the Rota Mayor’s Office. Lemons said approximately 17 people were terminated by the then mayor because they were not “loyal.”
This is a violation of the law that protects employees from being harassed or fired for political reasons, Lemons said.
He cited the case of one employee who was not paid and was not advised he had been terminated.
The employee’s time sheets were submitted after his termination and the Department of Finance issued payroll checks based on those time sheets.
“Further investigations showed that the checks were cashed and one of the checks was deposited to the mayor’s personal account,” Lemons alleged.
The investigation implicated the then mayor, his chief administrative officer and another employee of the mayor’s office.
In both cases, citizens went out of their way and give OPA investigators information that they needed to make valid cases for prosecution, Lemons said.
Torres urged the public to continue trusting AGO and OPA.
“(We will) act aggressively, act decisively and expeditiously on criminal and civil referrals for prosecution regardless of who is involved, what position the person is holding, and what are their political ties or implications for our office or for any other office.”
Torres added, “It is the height of disappointment for the public that the very agency entrusted with protecting their interest as taxpayers and their right as the people who paid the funds for the government…that we basically failed them.”
