“A HANDFUL” of BOOST recipients have returned the money, Finance Secretary Tracy B. Norita said.
BOOST stands for Building Optimism, Opportunity and Stability Together.
Norita informed the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee on Friday that the department had recovered over $1 million in BOOST monies. The program was financed by the American Rescue Plan Act funds that the CNMI government received from the federal government two years ago.
In a follow-up interview on Wednesday, Norita said the BOOST awardees who returned the money are those who received it even without submitting the requirement pursuant to ARPA rules.
She said each received an average of $50,000.
The BOOST program aimed to provide financial assistance to businesses and nonprofit organizations in the form of grants and business coaching.
According to Variety files, a total of $17 million in ARPA funds were transferred to the Bank of Saipan for the BOOST program. The bank was the program administrator.
On Jan. 4, 2023, the Bank of Saipan said it had returned to the Department of Finance the remaining BOOST funds in the amount of $856,338.78.
Norita on Wednesday said Finance reached out to Bank of Saipan and notified its officials of the awards that were cancelled due to non-compliance of the rules.
She said they told the bank that if there were still BOOST funds for those awards that were in the bank’s possession, “they should be returned.”
She said they also issued notices to the businesses that received BOOST funds, and they were asked to submit the documents they should have been required to submit before they received the awards.
In response, Norita said “some of the recipients voluntarily surrendered the money that were in their possession.”
“However,” she added, “it’s still ongoing…so we will see more action in terms of collection or should the businesses want to return funds and cancel their awards.”
Finance Secretary Tracy B. Norita appears before the Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee on Friday.
