Kumoi presses OPA to probe colleagues

Nearly three weeks since requesting the Office of Public Auditor for an investigation into the expenditures of his colleagues, Sen. Ramon S. Guerrero yesterday called for swift action as he expressed disappointment that the agency has yet to give him assurance for any firm plan.

“We cannot wait for two years to do this thing,” he told reporters yesterday, saying that he has not received a response from Public Auditor Leo L. LaMotte since he came up with the request last May 15.

The Saipan senator has asked OPA to audit expenditures by members of the Senate, some of which he claimed are questionable since taxpayers’ dollars have been spent without benefiting the community.

Most of the senators who are the target of the financial disclosure have denied charges that they have improperly used public funds for their activities as they dismissed the investigation as politically motivated.

Although Mr. LaMotte has come out saying that the audit will take place even without his request, Mr. Guerrero said he should have at least sent a letter to him informing him of his plan.

Noting that if its staff is cut based on an existing law that is set to take effect this September, he said that whatever investigation or request for such will take the agency several years to complete. “[Mr. LaMotte] needs to move [faster] than what he’s doing today,” he added.

Mr. Guerrero, the only Reform Party member in the Republican-held Senate, made the appeal as the Executive Appointments and Government Investigations Committee contemplates on a plan to hold oversight on his activities as former executive director of the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation.

Breaking his silence for the first time on the alleged improprieties during his tenure at the government-owned utility firm, he said he is confident that he will come “clean” once these accusations are disclosed in public.

In apparent retaliation against his action, EAGI chair Sen. Joaquin G. Adriano had asked OPA for a status report of a 1995 audit in which Mr. Guerrero was ordered to return over $250,000 in alleged overpayment by CUC.

“Clean”

“I am always clean since I left CUC,” he said.
“The board made the decision that I should be paid the compensatory part. The board did that.”

He declined to elaborate, saying he doesn’t want to jeopardize his case so that “if something comes up, I want the court to take that position.”

The EAGI committee is scheduled to hold a meeting today on Rota to determine whether a probe on Mr. Guerrero is necessary. Mr. Adriano, in an interview earlier this week, said they want to find out what has happened to the recommendations made in the audit report.

CUC Executive Director Timothy P. Villagomez had referred the matter to the Attorney General’s Office for action. In 1998, the AGO disclosed that it was still investigating the case, but OPA has yet to receive update, according to the recent annual report prepared by Mr. LaMotte.

Mr. Guerrero, however, still maintained the matter should be left to both agencies to resolve, and not for the Senate to revive. “It’s been seven years. Whatever I do, they always bring up that issue,” he said.

While acknowledging that it is part of the job, he believed that these accusations against him should not be used to “attack me.” He said that he will continue his work in the Senate despite the friction with other members.

“My relationship with my colleagues is alright. It doesn’t concern me personally,” explained Mr. Guerrero. “I’m damn good for the people I represent.”