San Nicolas made this allegation in his letter to Dela Cruz dated Feb. 13.
San Nicolas said Carmen DLC. Farrell’s claim for reimbursement of $1,052.52 was false, fictitious and fraudulent.
“It is very disgusting and unethical that you approved your sister’s false claims for reimbursement, for purchases that purportedly were made even before you became a mayor,” San Nicolas said.
Dela Cruz was in a meeting when sought for comment yesterday. In earlier interviews, he denied committing any wrongdoing.
San Nicolas said Farrell was a convicted felon and the mayor should not have approved her reimbursement claim.
He said the mayor’s sister was adjudicated guilty in connection with the submission of a false claim to the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 2004.
“You knew or you should have known that your sister is a convicted felon, who has a prior history of falsifying claims, yet you approved her claim for reimbursement for something that was purportedly bought even before you became a mayor,” San Nicolas told the mayor.
San Nicolas said Farrell submitted a false and fraudulent claim for reimbursement on Jan. 23.
The claim consisted of the following:
• Joeten receipt dated Dec. 8, 2009 for $132.40
• Department store receipt dated Jan. 5, 2010 for $34.65.
San Nicolas said the receipt showed that Don Farrell, Mrs. Farrell’s husband, made the credit purchase using his American Express credit card.
“It really looks like you and your sister Carmen have developed a scheme to collect other people’s receipts and claim reimbursement for yourselves,” San Nicolas told the mayor.
He said the mayor’s sister also wanted to be reimbursed for the following:
• Design Florist receipt dated Jan. 5, 2010 for $420 for flowers for the mayor’s inauguration on Jan. 15, 2010.
• Design Florist receipt dated Jan. 13, 2010 for $40 for more flowers.
• Design Florist receipt dated Jan. 22, 2010 for $240 for more flowers purportedly for the mayor’s inauguration.
“Why on earth would your sister…charge flowers on Jan. 22 and claimed that it was for the inauguration on Jan. 15?” San Nicolas asked the mayor.
San Nicolas further alleged that on or about Jan. 26, 2010 the mayor approved the purchase requisition to reimburse Mrs. Farrell’s expenditure of $1,052.52 with special instruction that it was for the 2010 mayoral inauguration.
“It seems clear that you and your sister Carmen have developed a scheme to tag an event or purpose to a receipt even though it is not true for the purpose of claiming that it is official,” San Nicolas said.
He is also questioning the following reimbursement claims:
• Joeten receipt dated Jan. 10, 2010 for $8.97
• Dollar Days wholesale receipt dated Jan. 10, 2010 for $29.64
• Freedom Air bill dated Jan. 14, 2010 for $132.90. The receipt had a notation stating: “Already paid Cossette the $132.90 on January 14, 2010.”
• Freedom Air receipt dated Jan. 28, 2010 for $132.90
San Nicolas said “if it is true that Carmen already paid [the person named] Cossette, why was she only given a receipt on Jan. 28? How can she claim reimbursement on the 23rd when the receipt was dated the 28th?”
According to San Nicolas, Mrs. Farrell instructed Allen Perez, the municipal treasurer, to “please make the check payable to myself: Carmen Dela Cruz Farrell as I already paid for most these items except for some flowers from Design Florist that was charged under my account.”
San Nicolas said he wants the mayor to explain “when did you and your family start treating the Tinian municipal treasury as if it is your family piggy bank?”
Copies of the letter were sent to the Attorney General’s Office, the Office of the Public Auditor and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
San Nicolas has asked these offices to investigate what he described as “the irregularities of the mayor and his family.”
