MPLA wants review of commish expedited

Marianas Public Lands Authority chair Ana Demapan-Castro has urged the Attorney General’s Office and the Department of Finance to expedite their review of alleged irregularities involving MPLA commissioner Henry Hofschneider.

This came as Demapan-Castro warned Hofschneider of further disciplinary action if the AGO and Finance find that he had violated the law by altering a drawdown request without the approval of the MPLA Board of Directors.

Based on documents obtained by the Saipan Tribune, Demapan-Castro asked Attorney General Pamela Brown and Finance Secretary Fermin Atalig to prioritize her request for an investigation.

“I can appreciate the fact that other pressing matters may be preventing a speedy resolution of our request; however, I kindly ask that this be given a priority, and that you expedite your review so that your opinion can be released just as soon as possible. Internal MPLA issues require a prompt determination of this important question,” she said in a letter to Brown and Atalig.

Hofschneider was placed on a 15-day administrative leave with pay beginning July 9 due the document alteration. His suspension, which was supposed to end on July 29, has been extended pending the conclusion of the AGO and Finance’s investigation.

“You are hereby notified that effective the start of business on July 30, 2004, your employment suspension will continue, but without pay. Your suspension shall continue for the same reasons as stated in the July 8, 2004 suspension memorandum until such time as a formal opinion is received from the Attorney General and the Secretary of Finance,” Demapan-Castro told Hofschneider in a July 28 notice of suspension continuation.

She added, “In the event that it is their opinion that there is a violation of the law, regulation, or the indenture agreement, you will be subject to further disciplinary action. If there are no findings of any violation, then you may be paid retroactively.”

The drawdown request in question relates to the transfer of MPLA funds at the Bank of Guam to pay for land compensation claims. Hofschneider allegedly allowed the CDA to alter the amount of funds being transferred from $216,322 to $134,695.91 without securing the board approval and without providing specific information on the persons that the revised drawdown amount is intended to compensate.

In the schedule of requisition request prepared by Hofschneider and MPLA comptroller David Demapan, the amount $216,322 was altered with a strikethrough and above it was typed $134,695.91. The documents showed that CDA Executive Director Maria Lourdes S. Ada altered the amount listed on the requisition.

“Aside from the alteration, we believe that any transmittal of documents that eventually end up in the hands of [a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation] institution must be free from any misleading information and misrepresentation,” Demapan-Castro told Brown and Atalig in her request for an investigation.

She also expressed particular concern that the alteration of documents prepared by MPLA and concurred by Finance “should not and must not be altered at any time for any purpose.”

“We believe that such alterations may be in violation of the bond indenture agreement and federal laws and regulations, and could lead to serious consequences affecting the responsibilities of the parties under Public Laws 13-17, as amended, and the bond indenture agreement,” she said.

Further, the Saipan Tribune learned that Hofschneider himself asked the AGO for an investigation on the matter earlier than Demapan-Castro did. He filed the request on July 13—five days after he got the suspension order in which the MPLA chair informed him of her plan to request an AGO investigation.

Basing his argument on the same law and agreement cited by Demapan-Castro, Hofschneider told Brown that Ada had authority over requisitions for fund draw down.

He added that he committed no violation by allowing Ada to deduct $81,626.09 from the requisition document.

“For your information, requisitions for fund draw down are prepared at my call and are not subject to…[the] MPLA [board’s] approval. For example, Requisition Nos. FY04-01, FY04-02, and FY04-03 were all prepared at my instructions and sent to the Secretary of Finance for his concurrence and then to CDA, without the Board of MPLA ever approving any one of them,” Hofschneider said.