KOROR (Island Times/Pacnews) — The Trial Division of the Palau Supreme Court has ordered former President Tommy E. Remengesau Jr. to pay the remaining balance of his $156,400 fine by Aug. 13, 2025.
The fine was imposed on Remengesau in 2010 after he was found guilty of violating the Palau Code of Ethics when he failed to properly disclose his interest in property in 2002 and 2003.
In her latest order, Presiding Justice Kathleen Alii said “payments shall be made on a monthly basis in installments of not less than $3,020 a month payable on the 20th of each month to the Clerk of Court.”
The court noted that Remengesau’s sentence did not include supervised probation to ensure that payments were timely made.
Hence, the court “did not find his behavior contumacious” or stubbornly or willfully disobedient to authority.
For its part, the Office of the Special Prosecutor said it attempted to negotiate a payment plan with Remengesau.
But a settlement was not reached, and an order-to-show-cause hearing proceeded on Aug. 9, 2021. At the hearing the Office of the Special Prosecutor or OSP presented evidence of Remengesau’s ability to pay the fine.
The OSP stated that despite his assets and continual source of income, Remengesau paid only $11,650 toward the $156,400 fine owed since 2011.
According to the court, its recent order to the defendant will enable the court to monitor his timely compliance with the court’s new order and fulfillment of his original sentence.
In 2009, the OSP launched an investigation of Remengesau who was a senator at the time. He had already served two terms as Palau’s president and was constitutionally barred from immediately seeking another term.
He was elected president again in 2012 and was re-elected in 2016. His term ended in Jan. 2021.
Tommy Remengesau Jr.
