A FRONT page news report in one of our local newspapers (Tia Belau) covering the period from September 29-–to October 5, 2008 disclosed that some members of the 7th Olbiil Era Kelulau spent over a quarter of a million dollars ($260,373.05) in world travels in the first ten months (October 2007 to August 2008) of fiscal year2008. We do not know if any of those trips resulted in any significant gains for Palau and whether or not they were justified in the first place. As we understand it, the standing policy of our government calls for coordination between OEK members and the Executive Branch (Ministry of State) when legislators make foreign trips to ensure that the Government of Palau would not appear to be speaking with a forked tongue We, therefore, would like to remind everyone; particularly the current and prospective members of the OEK, of what happened in the past when sitting OEK members violated laws and regulations governing unjustified or illegal travels.
In May 2005, a sitting OEK House member had to make an agreement with the Special Prosecutor for the payment of $1,500 to the National Treasury to settle a fraudulent travel claim he filed. That arrangement was later overshadowed by the sentencing of another OEK House member to pay a $15,000 fine for “forgery, misconduct in public office, and cheating”. Also at that time there were reports of other charges and demands for settlements and restitutions against 25 sitting and former OEK members amounting to about $316, 930. 92. A later report said that most of these amounts had been paid and only a few were still outstanding.These reports became hot topics of discussion at many gatherings in the community. I remember one such gathering were people were practically howling mad for these outrageous OEK spending. One disgusted old man asked: “Don’t they keep OEK monies under lock and key? How come members could just walk in and take money from the safe?” Another said any official who files fraudulent travel claims should be kicked out of office at once. “How can they talk about protecting the public’s interest when they themselves are rotten to the core?” he asked. A third speaker said “these thieves, who are masquerading as public servants, should have their hands cut off for squandering the public trust placed on them and as a warning to others who might think that they, too, could steal public moneys and get away with it”.Are we safe from the financial crises that have been troubling many big countries around the world?We read every day in the newspapers and watch Television reports about the many financial difficulties in many countries around the world and we begin to wonder if the same problems have not already reached our shore. The reports on banks and other financial institutions, some of them very large, being closed, bought or sold like store items trouble us the most. We believe our banks here in Palau are safe and are not in danger of being affected by the same problems that have been wreaking economic havocs in larger countries. Just the same, we would like to be assured by the banks themselves and by our government that we are on safe waters. We hope to hear from them soon.
