Teno asked to halt transfer of SBDC

Senate Floor Leader Pete P. Reyes yesterday urged Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio not to approve the transfer of local Small Business Development Center to the Commonwealth Development Authority while an investigation by FBI is underway on allegations of improprieties by its former director.

He also vowed to pursue the case against Jack Peters, who used to head the SBDC administered by the Northern Marianas College, until the probe clears him of any violations of U.S. laws involving federal funds granted to the center.

“I’m not going to let this go,” the senator told in an interview after he asked support for the investigation from his colleagues during the final session of the Saipan and Northern Islands delegation yesterday.

Mr. Reyes, who has in recent weeks come up with reports detailing these allegations against Mr. Peters, also wrote a letter to the governor asking him not to sanction the closure of the NMC-SBDC while the federally-funded program moves to CDA.

Although CDA Board Chair John S. Tenorio has maintained this transfer is intended to save the program and keep the funds in the CNMI, the senator said the governor has yet to give his consent to the plan.

“I don’t support the transfer because there are a lot of reports indicating improprieties by its former director that need to be resolved first,” he explained. “Until the investigation is over, then I think the governor should decide by then whether to transfer SBDC.”

Mr. Reyes said the issue of whether NMC handled the program efficiently should have been addressed by both the college and U.S. Small Business Administration, which supervises the overall program in the region, to reach a mutual agreement.

He added that he found it “suspicious” that Mr. Peters would be pushing for the transfer just months after he left the center last year.

Probe

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has begun its probe for possible federal program fraud and other violations of U.S. laws, according to a letter from the inspector general’s office of the SBA field office based in Los Angeles.

Daniel Sanchez, special agent-in-charge at the Investigations Division of the office, has tasked the FBI office on Guam to investigate the allegations raised by former NMC President Agnes M. McPhetres.

Mr. Peters, who has repeatedly denied the accusations in the past, resigned from NMC-SBDC last April to assume the higher post of director of the Pacific Islands SBDC Network based in the University of Guam, under which the local center falls.

NMC officials and some members of the Legislature have alleged that Mr. Peters tried to get himself a $10,000 contract from the federally-funded economic study administered by the college prior to his Guam assignment.

They cited their rejection of his offer as the factor for the center’s closure, claiming that its ex-director had launched a campaign to discredit NMC to persuade federal officials to terminate its contract with the college.

SBA officials, however, have maintained the transfer was prompted by their dissatisfaction at the way CNMI’s lone higher learning institution handled the local program which receives thousands of dollars in grants every year.

The agency did not renew the contract when it expired last Dec. 31, effectively giving control to CDA. Mr. Tenorio has said he would tap the support of the private sector to run the center.