Yesterday, the prosecution rested its case after presenting its witnesses:
• Lt. Gov. Eloy Inos, a former Finance secretary
• former DPL Secretary John S. Del Rosario Jr.
• Brownsfield program’s administrative assistant Mario Cepeda
• Environmental Protection Agency special agent Michael Janiga
AMPRO president John Scott loaned money “out of kindness and compassion” to Reksid who is “a friend in need,” defense lawyer Mark B. Hanson told jurors yesterday morning.
Hanson said his client didn’t ask for a bribe, and the government has the burden to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Reksid is guilty as charged.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric S. O’Malley, the prosecutor, told jurors Reksid extended three benefits to Scott, the contractor for the federally funded Brownsfield program: favorable treatment on invoicing, recommendation for extension, and improper routing of an amended contract.
Inos testified that he signed a change order, believing that it was only to change the time not the price.
He said he did not see the 2009 “contract” that changed the price by $200,000.
Janiga testified that EPA extended $550,000 in grants to the CNMI government for environmental programs, such as Brownsfield.
He said $350,000 went for the clearing of the unexploded ordnance in the Marpi area, and the remaining $200,000 was for a petroleum cleanup.
Phases 1 and 2 of the contract, amounting to $297, 152, ended in 2008.
It was covered by an independent contractor agreement signed on Oct. 1, 2007 between DPL and AMPRO.
Janiga said after the Federal Bureau of Investigation contacted him in 2009, he conducted an investigation with Reksid, then the Brownsfield manager, as the target.
Janiga said there’s no embezzlement, but there’s a “sign of impropriety” on how Reksid handled the Brownsfield program.
Janiga said Reksid admitted asking for a “loan” from Scott.
The AMPRO president initially did not mention Reksid’s loan, Janiga said.
When confronted by Janiga and the FBI last year, Scott told federal investigators that he did not mention Reksid’s loan because he did not want the loan “to look like a kickback.”
Janiga testified that Reksid had not repaid the loan, and Scott “did not care to get the money back.”
The prosecution presented a bank statement regarding Scott’s transfer of $3,000 to Reksid’s bank account on Feb. 12, 2009.
At that time, the prosecution said, DPL and AMPRO contract had already expired.
Afterward, Reksid started issuing memoranda in favor of Scott which included a change order for the Brownsfield contract, but this appeared to be an amended 2007 contract with AMPRO.
The contract now amounted to $497,152, or an increase of $200,000, covering from March 1, 2009 to Feb. 28, 2010.
The prosecution said it was stipulated in the 2009 “contract” that there should be a competitive sealed proposals for project.
But Hanson said the prosecution is presenting “a picture out of context,” and not the “whole movie.”
Hanson said his client came in late into the program, and did not participate in the selection of the contractor. It was a committee that included EPA that made the selection, he added.
The defense said EPA extended another $200,000 grant to complete the Marpi clearing project that was delayed due to the presence of an endangered species in the area.
Reksid was indicted last November. He was released after issuing a $25,000 unsecured bond.
