He was reacting to the Senate’s unanimous rejection of attorney Mark Horling’s appointment.
Remengesau said he will not submit a new nomination unless the Senate is willing to fill the post which has been vacant for eight months now.“I don’t want to go to the motion again, if they [the senators] are not serious about it,” Remengesau told reporters.He said the senators should inform him whether they are interested in acting on the appointment or “if they want to do anything for the rest of their term.”According to the president, it is the Senate’s prerogative to reject his nominations, but he noted that Horlings is qualified to be the new special prosecutor.Remengesau will ask the Senate to send to his office Horlings responses’ to the senators’ queries which were supposedly the basis of the decision to reject the nomination. According to the Senate, there could be a potential conflict of interests if Horlings becomes the special prosecutor due to his past friendships.Horlings served as legal counsel to President Ngiratkel Etpison from 1989 to 1992 and is a former Palau attorney general.The senators also said that Horlings was willing to serve for two years only. The special prosecutor has a five-year term of office.
