House committee okays subpoena dates for ex-Finance chief, 3 others
The House of Representatives ad-hoc committee that is looking into the previous administration’s Building Optimism, Opportunity and Stability Together grant program decided yesterday to issue the dates in the subpoenas for former Finance secretary David DLG Atalig and three others to appear and testify.
Members of the Special Committee on Federal Assistance and Disaster Related Funding agreed in favor of Rep. Edwin K. Propst’s (D-Saipan) motion to allow committee chair Rep. Ralph N. Yumul (Ind-Saipan) to issue the dates recommended to subpoena Atalig, and contractors Salina Sapp, Robert Travilla, and Shayne Villanueva.
Travilla and Villanueva were in charge of the BOOST Program’s marketing.
The specific dates were not mentioned as committee members discussed it in an executive session.
House legal counsel Joseph Taijeron clarified that Yumul has the latitude to work with him and any lawyers these witnesses may have so that they can work on a reasonably accommodating schedule.
All nine committee members present at the meeting also agreed to issue subpoena for television station KSPN2 to obtain documents related to BOOST Program.
The committee recently agreed to subpoena some documents from the local media—Saipan Tribune, Marianas Variety, and radio station KKMP—related to advertising the BOOST program.
Propst, who is the committee vice chairman, earlier clarified that the subpoenas do not suggest any wrongdoing on the media’s part, but is a normal route to take since the media companies are private entities.
Propst said the media entities were paid for the marketing work they did and the committee would like to find out what is owed these outlets and what was asked of them to perform.
The committee was also created to investigate the American Rescue Plan Act funds.
The current investigation the committee is doing arises from the recommendation of the previous Ways and Means and JGO Committees of the 22nd House of Representatives to continue the BOOST probe.
The two committees had conducted several legislative fact-finding hearings that allegedly resulted “in the discovery of unprecedented levels of corruption and fiscal mismanagement relating to federal funds.”
Using $17 million in ARPA money, BOOST was a project of the previous Office of the Governor, Department of Finance, and Department of Commerce. It aimed to provide financial assistance to CNMI businesses and nonprofit organizations, but some lawmakers alleged that it was used by the previous to gain votes in the 2022 gubernatorial election and enrich the previous administration’s cronies.
Ralph N. Yumul
