Eduardo Calvo of Calvo & Clark is inquiring regarding pertinent documents of the bank which include the latest year end and current financial statements, audit report, status loan, deposits and other outstanding obligations of the bank, according to an email to the President’s Office.
“I hope we are able to work together and develop a feasible plan to save the bank,” Calvo said in his message.
According to the law firm’s website, it was founded in Guam in 1992, Calvo & Clark, LLP has said to have represented some of the Pacific region’s most successful companies. The firm’s general commercial practice embraces complex civil litigation, international law, finance, real estate, land use and development, communications, business licensing, bank regulation and licensing, and government regulations.
It is not clear however what entity the law firm is representing. President Johnson Toribiong claims that the firm represents the company which revived the collapsed Bank of Saipan.
PSB was the first locally owned bank in Palau and had more than 7,000 customers and more than $20 million in deposit when it was declared insolvent and placed under receivership in Nov. 2006.
In 2006, former President Tommy Remengesau has hired an Independent Counsel to look into the bank’s failure.
Toribiong has appointed a new Independent Counsel following a clamor in the Palauan community that action be taken on the matter.
Previous criminal cases filed in connection with the bank’s collapse have been dismissed while former Independent Lewis Harley has voluntary sought for the dismissal of the other criminal cases.
There remain 641 depositors who have not recovered their money totaling $18 million from the collapsed bank.
At the time the bank was placed under receivership, there were 7,335 deposit accounts worth about $20,638,334.
The PSB receiver then borrowed $2.4 million from the Republic at zero interest rate to make the first payout of up to $2,000 to all depositors.
The payout was in March 2007, where the about $1 million deposits were paid.
The receivership’s priority is to pay for the $2.4 million before another payout is made as a secured creditor of the receivership.
The balance of the loan is $900,000.
The receiver said that one funds is enough, another payout will be scheduled.
Loan collections and sales assets were the ones used to pay the government loan.
Earlier, civil charges were filed against individuals and corporations allegedly involved in the failure of the bank.
Independent Counsel Nelson Werner filed the third amended complaint, with 19 different causes of action.
The complaint ranges from negligence, breach of duty of care, gross negligence, breach of fiduciary duties, breach of duty of loyalty, embezzlement. Conversion, fraud, intentional misrepresentation, intentional concealment, conspiracy to commit fraud, violation of the Financial Institution Act and breach of promissory note among others.
The complaint said that the officers and directors converted to their personal use and possession the sum of at least $16,000.000.
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