Palacios described Aug. 11 as a “sad day” for the CNMI.
It was on that day when Villagomez and his co-defendants were indicted in federal court on charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government, wire fraud and theft of federal funds.
“It couldn’t have come at a worst time with the power crisis, our deep economic slump and so many other issues. But that’s out of our control,” the speaker told Variety in a phone interview yesterday.
Villagomez is out on a $50,000 unsecured bond and so are his co-defendants – her sister and her husband, Commerce Secretary James Santos.
Former Commonwealth Utilities Corp. Executive Director Anthony Guerrero who is also out on bail testified that he was “coerced” to participate in the scheme to buy overpriced unnecessary chemicals for CUC using federal funds.
Palacios said Villagomez’s case certainly creates a negative impression for the CNMI government.
Villagomez is the highest ranking CNMI official ever to be indicted.
“We are trying to secure resources with federal assistance in trying to address the crisis (at CUC), this just adds to the complexity and the difficulty of the situation,” Palacios, R-Saipan, said.
Some say the U.S. government will face challenges in getting a conviction for the accused because of the islands’ limited jury pool.
However, Palacios expressed confidence in the federal justice system.
“We have to leave it to the court, the attorneys and the prosecutors. They go through the jury selection process. We do have confidence in our judicial process,” he said.
