NMIRF to rule on retirement allotment of ex-CPA official

The Northern Marianas Retirement Fund is set to decide on the case of a former Commonwealth Ports Authority official whose unused compensatory time was allegedly converted to sick leave to pad his retirement benefits.

The decision will come after months of deliberations on the case. Retirement Fund officials convened again Friday to discuss measures that will be meted out on the case of former CPA Executive Director Carlos A. Shoda.

Fund Board Chair Vicente Camacho disclosed members of the NMIRF Board of Directors are now waiting for the transcript of meetings where the former CPA official’s case was discussed.

Once board members are furnished with copies of the transcript, the Fund Board of Trustee will immediately convene to decide on the fate of the retirement case of Mr. Shoda.

The former executive director is facing possible repayment and permanent termination of retirement benefits after the Office of Public Auditor discovered alleged conversion of unused compensatory time hours to sick leave as additional years of credited service used in the computation of retirement allotment.

The Public Auditor earlier asked the NMIRF to recover more than $127,000 worth of retirement benefits improperly made to two former officials of CPA who were found to have inflated their leave credits.

Former Public Auditor Leo LaMotte asked the Fund to discontinue payments to former CPA Security Chief Joseph A. Reyes, after investigations proved that he is not qualified to receive early retirement benefits.

The Fund last month released the decision on Mr. Reyes’ case where the former security chief was asked to reimburse more than $110,000 in overpaid benefits.

It was also Mr. LaMotte who called the attention of NMIRF to adjust the pension benefits of Mr. Shoda which was actually $5,114 higher than what other government officials, who receive the same salary, would normally get.

Based on the CPA personnel manual, Mr. Shoda was paid $12, 114 in compensation benefits. OPA also noted that the excess annual leave credits granted to Mr. Shoda increased his average annual salary and pension benefits by at least $222 monthly or $2,674 annually.

OPA asked Ports Authority Board Chairman Roman S. Palacios to officially request the Fund to adjust Mr. Shoda’s retirement pension based on the average annual salary and creditable years of service.

According to the OPA, the previous CPA administration allowed the conversion of the two officials’ unused compensatory time hours to sick leave for use as additional years of credited service in the computation of their retirement allotment.

The OPA report added that the previous CPA administration allowed its officials to earn annual leave of about 14 hours per pay period or 360 hours in a year which is excessive of the law-mandated eight-hour leave per pay period or 208 hours granted each year to officials and employees of the CNMI government.

In order to curb repetition of such irregularities, the public auditor has offered a 10-point recommendations for implementation by the CPA Board of Directors which include the adoption of personnel rules and regulations that are within the authority granted by the CPA Act. (EGA)