The appointment was Toribiong’s response to Special Prosecutor Michael Copeland’s concerns over Werner’s appointment as acting independent counsel.
Copeland has refused to immediately transfer all assets and work product of the Office of the Independent Counsel, saying he is the current independent counsel.
“Obviously, I will need to be removed from the position before anyone else can occupy it,” he said.
Copeland, in a letter to Werner, said as a goodwill gesture he will be tendering his resignation to the president.
Toribiong accepted the resignation and told Copeland to transfer all assets and work product of the independent counsel’s office to Werner.
Toribiong said he wants the PSB failure thoroughly investigated and those involved prosecuted.
“A great deal of time has elapsed since the collapse, and there is a growing clamor in the Palauan community that action be taken, particularly from the depositors who lost their life savings,” he added.
He said he is distressed over the fact that there appears to be a conflict between Copeland and the Attorney General’s Office when the focus of both agencies should be the investigation and prosecution of violations of the laws in Palau.
“The additional fact that the discord between your office and that of the attorney general has become public sullies and tends to undermine, rightfully and wrongfully, the public’s confidence in the integrity of your respective offices and that of the government as a whole. All of us are in government to serve the people, and that should be our principal goal, nothing less, nothing more,” Toribiong said in a letter to Copeland.
Copeland said Werner has a potential conflict of interest.
According to the special prosecutor, Attorney General Ernestine Rengiil was counsel for one of the primary defendants, John De Vivo.
“The ethical problem I am concerned about in this case may be summarized this way: Rengiil represented one of the primary defendants of the PSB matter. Thereafter she became the attorney general for the Republic of Palau. Normally that would disqualify the entire Attorney General‘s Office (including yourself) from handling any of the PSB cases. But if AG Rengiil was carefully screened away from the cases, then her disqualification would not be imputed to you and you could prosecute the PSB cases without ethical concerns,” Copeland said in a letter to Werner.
Werner, in an interview, said De Vivo “can no longer be a target in the investigation.”
DeVivo, the former PSB vice president, entered into a settlement agreement with then- Independent Counsel Lewis Harley and as a result of that settlement, civil and criminal cases against him were dismissed with prejudice.
Werner said because De Vivo is no longer a subject of the investigation, there is no conflict of interest if he, Werner, prosecutes the case.
“Copeland, as a former independent counsel should know about this, if he has reviewed the file,” Werner said.
“We do not take lightly the conflict of interest issue. We looked at it thoroughly and I have hired an independent lawyer to analyze it as well. There is no conflict of interest,” Werner added.
The Pacific Savings Bank was the first locally owned bank in Palau and had 7,000 customers and more than $20 million in deposit when it was declared insolvent and placed under receivership in Nov. 2006.
