Special Prosecutor Michael P. Copeland in an email yesterday said that the OSP initiated an investigation on Beattie’s actions when their office received a complaint suggesting misconduct of the former AG.
Copeland said that the investigation is now complete and after conferring with other top law enforcement officials, their office decided that the Republic should pursue civil but not criminal sanctions against Beattie.An article appeared recently in other newspaper (not Palau Horizon) regarding Beattie’s alleged misconduct and investigation but Copeland said that their office was not the source of the information that alleged criminal misconduct against Beattie.Copeland said there were three allegations leveled against Beattie which the Office of the Special Prosecutor investigated.He said of these three accusations, they only found evidence in the third allegation that Beattie fraudulently misused government resources by receiving funding to participate in a conference which he did not really go.Copeland said there is evidence that suggest this is true but criminal prosecution in this matter would not be in the best interest of the Republic.“As a practical matter in order to criminally prosecute Beattie for this crime, it would cost the Republic much more money than the expense that Beattie allegedly wrongfully received,” Copeland stated in his mail yesterday.“Beattie refused to cooperate with our investigation, (which is his right under Palauan law).Therefore, if we were to criminally prosecute him, to develop the rest of our evidence we would have to send an investigator to China to find witnesses, and if those witnesses were willing, pay for each of their round trip tickets and lodging in Palau while we conducted the trial,” Copeland further stated.He said it would probably be throwing good money after bad so instead of prosecuting Beattie, they requested the Administration to hold Beattie’s final pay check and use it to repay the government for Beattie’s expenses.The Special Prosecutor said: “If Beattie wishes to contest the decision, he may sue us in court civilly where we can use the broader tools of civil discovery to further develop our evidence.” Beattie was first accused of using his position as the AG to solicit a visa into the United States for a personal acquaintance of his.Copeland said that the allegation was true because Beattie used letter head from the OAG to make a request to the United States Government on the behalf of his acquaintance, a lady from China.However, Copeland said the basis for the request, contained in Beattie’s letter was that the lady had been helpful in a few of the Republic’s investigations into human trafficking in Palau and if she will be required to go back to her country, her life would be in danger.Copeland said that their investigation indicated that Beattie’s assertion was probably true and the lady had turned in evidence to help in a human trafficking investigation.Copeland added that there is evidence her life would be in jeopardy if she were repatriated back to China.The Special Prosecutor went on saying that they found no basis for a criminal or civil action in the first allegation.“While what Beattie did was arguably inappropriate, it was something that should have been handled through administrative discipline and doesn’t rise to the level of criminal misconduct.”The second allegation hurled against Beattie was that he and the lady used Beattie’s power as AG to extort and blackmail businesses in Palau.Copeland said that their investigation revealed that there was little evidence that Beattie knew of, participated in or approved of the lady’s actions.Copeland further stated that it is possible that Beattie was not even aware that his acquaintance was making these threats–closing down the karaoke bars and massage parlors if they did not pay her the protection money.Copeland said because there is little evidence that Beattie participated in any wrongful conduct, no action will be taken on this matter.
