MPLT trustees file complaint vs. DPL before OAG, OPA
The trustees of the Marianas Public Land Trust have filed a formal complaint and request for investigation/audit with the Office of the Attorney General and Office of the Public Auditor against the Department of Public Lands regarding its handling of and accounting for public land lease funds.
Robert T. Torres, on behalf of the MPLT trustees, also requested Attorney General Edward Manibusan and acting Public Auditor Dora Inos-Deleon Guerrero to investigate/audit DPL for its alleged continuing withholding of net land lease funds and failure to remit the funds to MPLT.
“We believe such an investigation will inform the executive and legislative branches, as well as the beneficiaries of the general fund, of the findings of violations and result in compliance by DPL,” said Torres in the complaint filed last Wednesday.
The MPLT trustees accuse DPL of fraud/waste/abuse of public land lease funds, and failure to comply with Article 11 of the CNMI Constitution, the CNMI Planning and Budgeting Act, and Public Law 15-2.
As of press time yesterday, DPL Secretary Teresita A. Santos has yet to comment on MPLT’s complaint.
Torres cited the following examples in the MPLT complaint:
Failure to remit $1 million from settlement funds in the lawsuit involving Mariana Resort & Spa property.
Failure to remit $2.5 million taken by then-governor Benigno R. Fitial in fiscal year 2010 via executive order.
Failure to remit $1.97 for land compensation paid by DPL (in 2012 DPL audit).
Unauthorized establishment of bank accounts to place land lease funds.
In relation to the $1-million settlement funds, Torres said Rep. Blas Jonathan T. Attao (Ind-Saipan) recently introduced a legislation to appropriate these funds for “enhanced services” for DPL-essentially a supplemental budget for DPL.
The lawyer said the AG has already informed DPL that any supplemental or excess funds must be remitted to MPLT.
“We are concerned that the Legislature is not being informed of the issues in dispute,” Torres said.
Attao introduced House Bill 23-91 last Tuesday to allow DPL to use $1 million in settlement money arising from a DPL lawsuit in order to “enhance” its services. The House of Representatives passed the legislation that same day. That money is settlement funds from Kan Pacific Saipan Ltd. and Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC over DPL’s lawsuit against Kan Pacific for breach of a land lease agreement.
In reference to the failure to remit $2.5 million to MPLT, Torres said DPL allowed the Office of the Governor to take the $2.5 million without making any effort to secure the return of those funds to DPL-as is the DPL’s secretary’s fiduciary duty pursuant to Public Law 15-2.
The lawyer said that, as Manibusan and Deleon Guerrero may be aware, MPLT has objected over the years to DPL’s willful failure to remit public land lease income. Despite the MPLT trustees’ efforts, the problem remains, Torres said, and DPL, in MPLT’s views, has violated and continues to violate its constitutional and statutory responsibilities to remit net public land lease income to MPLT.
The trustees maintain that it should not be their obligation to compel DPL to comply with its obligations now, as a line department of the Executive Branch carrying out the fundamental policies of Article 11 Section 6 of the CNMI Constitution.
Torres said DPL’s most recent response following the trustees’ meeting with the DPL secretary and her personnel prompted this request for investigation/audit, noting that the DPL secretary asserts that no remittances are due for fiscal years 2021 and 2022.
MPLT asserts the OAG and OPA should undertake an audit/investigation of DPL’s actions and, if necessary, enforce the constitutional and statutory provisions for that agency to ensure compliance.
“Simply put, the trustees have made DPL aware of its obligations but continues to follow its own rationale to circumvent its duty to account for and remit net public land lease income to MPLT,” Torres said.
Another violation, he said, is DPL’s continuing position that it need only file its budget with the Legislature “for information purposes” rather than being subject to the Planning and Budgeting Act, like other agencies.
Per the CNMI Constitution, the MPLT is mandated to invest all public land lease proceeds for the benefit of all Northern Marianas descent. DPL collects the money and turns it over to MPLT, minus administrative costs.
Robert T. Torres
