FORMER BOOST program contractor Shayne Blanco Villanueva was found in contempt by a special House panel for declining to answer its questions on Tuesday.
Villanueva, who was subpoenaed by the House Special Committee on Federal Assistance & Disaster-Related Funding, appeared with his counsel, Keith Chambers.
Asked by Rep. Blas Jonathan Attao about his post-secondary education, Villanueva, who owns Roil Soil Marketing, replied, “On the advice of my counsel, I respectfully invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege, therefore I respectfully decline to answer your question at this time.”
When Attao asked the same question, Villanueva gave the same answer.
Attao said under the law, if a witness is not providing any information or is withholding information from the committee, the witness can be held in contempt. “We can note that for the record,” he added.
The committee chair, Rep. Ralph N. Yumul, then asked Villanueva’s lawyer, “You are aware that [your client] may be found in contempt of the investigation for not answering any of the questions?”
A short recess followed. When the committee meeting resumed, Attao again asked Villanueva about his post-secondary education and background.
“On the advice of my counsel,” Villanueva replied, “I respectfully invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege, therefore I respectfully decline to answer any of your questions or any other question at this time.”
Attao again mentioned the law, which states that a person “shall be in contempt” if he or she refuses to answer questions of an investigating committee.
“Is that clear Mr. Villanueva?” Attao asked.
After consulting briefly with his lawyer, Villanueva said, “I understand.”
Yumul then asked Villanueva, “Just for clarification, you are officially…refusing to answer any of the questions, correct? …”
Villanueva replied, “On the advice of my counsel, I respectfully invoke my Fifth Amendment privilege, therefore I respectfully decline to answer the question.”
Attao thanked Villanueva, and said, “You have the right to do that but with that being said, it is obviously clear that Mr. Villanueva won’t be answering any other questions as we do have a lot of questions related to Mr. Villanueva and his companies.”
Attao said the committee’s next step “would be a motion for contempt and to ask the speaker to make the recommendation to the Office of the Attorney General to hold Mr. Villanueva in contempt.”
Yumul called for another short recess.
When the committee reconvened, Rep. Marissa Flores made the motion to find Villanueva in contempt for violating 1 CMC 1306.
“He has repeatedly been asked questions and has repeatedly refused to testify under oath and his failure to respond in violation is stated in 1306(a). I further move that this special committee report to the House and ask the speaker [to] send the statement of contempt to the CNMI attorney general for further prosecution in the CNMI court of law,” she stated.
All nine members of the committee voted yes.
The committee then excused Villanueva.
Disappointed
During the miscellaneous part of the meeting, House Floor Leader Edwin Propst said, “We are disappointed that Mr. Villanueva is not willing to testify as there are many questions that we have to ask in regards to BOOST, [and] also with regards to the Farmers, Fishermen and Ranchers program that Mr. Villanueva was supposed to oversee.”
BOOST stands for “Building Optimism, Opportunities and Stability Together.” It was a $17 million program funded by federal funds and launched by the previous administration in 2022.
Propst said according to the documents they have gathered, Villanueva was paid by the administration of then-Gov. Ralph DLG Torres $215,000 “at the very least,” for implementing the program for which 1,000 farmers, fishermen and ranchers applied.
Rep. Vincent “Kobre” Aldan said of the $1 million in federal funds awarded for the Farmers, Fishermen and Ranchers or FFR Program only $182,000 was given out to 364 awardees who received $500 each.
Propst noted that the $215,000 paid to Villanueva was way higher than the total amount of $182,000 awarded to 364 farmers, fishermen and ranchers.
Propst said according to the Department of Finance, moreover, Villanueva’s contract was not valid.
He said “the original projection for [the] FFR program was $1 million…. What was actually given out was $182,000. And there were supposed to be [1,000 applicants] from Saipan, Tinian, and Rota, [but] it turned out there were only 364 actually awarded.”
Propst said this is just one of the many “perplexing things” that the committee has seen during its review of pertinent documents.
He said “at the end of the day, essentially this is free money that was being given out. It was free money. It was not something that needed the most extraordinary marketing that money could buy. And yet there was a ton of money that was spent, and we hope to go through that and see where exactly it went.”
Yumul scheduled another meeting for Friday, March 8, 2024, at 1 p.m. in the House chamber. On the agenda is Villanueva’s contempt.
The other members of the committee are Reps. John Paul Sablan, Angelo Camacho, Vicente C. Camacho and Diego Vincent F. Camacho.
Shayne Blanco Villanueva is sworn in during a meeting of the House Special Committee on Federal Assistance & Disaster-Related Funding in the House chamber on Tuesday. Behind him is his lawyer, Keith Chambers.
