Sen. Frank Q. Cruz, R-Tinian, received yesterday a letter from CNMI Bar Association disciplinary committee chairman Timothy H. Bellas informing him they will soon appoint an investigator.
Cruz, who chairs the Senate Committee on Executive Appointments and Government Investigations, told Variety in an interview yesterday that he is relieved to finally get a response from the CNMI Bar.
“People deserve to understand what went on,” Cruz said, referring to the $392,406 contract which the Fitial administration signed with Integrated Professional Solutions that Ada formed shortly after resigning as Commerce secretary.
The CNMI Bar notified Cruz that it has received his letter.
It also informed the senator that its disciplinary committee will make a determination “whether further action [by the Bar] is warranted by the facts of the case.”
Cruz said he was assured that the CNMI Bar’s disciplinary committee will soon name its member or members who will investigate Buckingham.
Cruz wrote the Bar last month to reiterate a Senate resolution calling for an investigation of the attorney general. He told the group that the Senate “is very concerned about this matter.”
Cruz said Buckingham “violated his oath of office, the American Bar Association Model of Professional Conduct, and CNMI laws and regulations regarding his involvement in the approval of CNMI American Recovery and Reinvestment Act management sole-source contract.”
