Board chairman Timothy Bellas has asked for a 60-day extension although the board will cease its operations tomorrow.
Bellas said during the 60-day extension, no new financial transactions will be entertained and all checks not cashed by Dec. 31 shall be voided and the board will not be authorized to transfer the balance to a new Garment Worker Trust Fund Account.
Bellas has also asked the plaintiffs involved in a class suit against three garment factories on Saipan to keep their board checking account open for an additional 30-60 days.
The plaintiffs filed the separate class action against The Gap, Inc., Byrlane, L.P. and The Dress Barn, Inc.
Bellas submitted the document to advise the federal court of the residual settlement funds that have been distributed as well as the proposed method by which the board will terminate its financial operations and transfer undistributed fund to the Garment Worker Trust Fund Account.
Bellas said the board had encountered several issues in distributing almost 14,000 checks using its limited staff. He said that there had also been other difficulties on the distribution of the residual settlement fund checks because the checks were sent out to class members with an admonition stamped on each check that they would not be “reissued” after the 60-day expiration.
Bellas said this was done in an effort to close the board operations by July 31, 2008. He said several of the financial institutions to which the checks have been presented interpreted the stamped language to mean that the checks would not be honored after 60 days.
He also said that some of the residual settlement fund checks were sent to the class member’s addresses in their respective country of origin when they were still on Saipan.
When the checks were returned to Saipan, the checks had already become stale dated and non-negotiable. With this, Bellas said the board has continued to reissue checks that have been returned via mail so that by mid October, the board has issued checks to class members.
He said that it would require some time for the replacement checks to be negotiated by class members and for the checks to appear on the board checking account statement.
Bellas said that the current accounting will not be completed until after board ceases its operations tomorrow.
He said that pursuant to a court order, he continues to pursue a possible refund of overpaid withholding taxes with the CNMI tax authorities
Bellas said that upon the expiration of the Garment Worker Trust Fund Account., the trustees will solicit proposals from non-profit charitable organizations in the community to make donations until the amount is depleted.
