The president said he also asked the Attorney General’s Office to review the cases whose outcome, he added, surprised him.
Remengesau wants some answers from Harley.According to the president, the independent counsel did not brief him before calling for the dismissal of the cases.Chief Justice Arthur Ngiraklsong dismissed the charges against Pacific Savings Bank officers Deborah Rengiil, John Devivo, Margo Llecholch and Mack Timothy Taunton on Oct. 3.According to the court order, the information against Rengiil and Llecholch is dismissed with prejudice while the information against Devivo and Taunton is dismissed without prejudice.Mariano Carlos, counsel for Rengiil, said the case against Rengiil and Llecholch cannot be filed in court again because the case was dismissed with prejudice.It was the independent counsel who asked the court to dismiss these cases, Carlos said.Harley, he added, felt that there was no strong evidence against the defendants.Rengiil was charged with seven counts each of cheating and embezzlement, two counts of forgery, 21 counts of money laundering and two counts of conspiracy.Taunton was charged with six counts each of cheating and embezzlement, one count each of forgery and conspiracy and 18 counts of money laundering.Llecholch and Devivo were charged with two counts each of cheating, embezzlement, forgery and conspiracy and six counts each of money laundering.Remengesau said it is Harley’s duties to prosecute the people behind the failure of the bank and recover the depositors’ money.He added that the independent counsel’s job is to aggressively pursue cases.
