The school, which operates every Saturday for a three-hour class, has been receiving donations from various Korean businesses, the local Korean community, and the South Korean government, according to Palacios, R-Saipan.
A Korean businessman earlier accused the school of providing “false information” in order to obtain ETC donations.
The school, however, says it complies with the law, citing that it continues to maintain its non-profit status and eligibility.
Palacios said the Office of the Public Auditor has been conducting an investigation.
“There’s no report of the final findings yet, but OPA recommended, just as the Fitial administration did with their veto [of Senate Bill 17-68], that there should be amendments to the ETC program because they believe the program is flawed,” he added.
S.B. 17-68 would have “temporarily suspended” the ETC program, but was vetoed on June 7, 2011 by acting Gov. Eloy S. Inos, who cited the need for reforming and not suspending the program.
Palacios said schools that receive ETC donations can “spend them on whatever they want, which has the potential for abuse.”
“The real intent of the program, to begin with, is that the ETC donations should be used for the best interests of the students, not for the school administrators or for salaries,” he said.
