MPLA chair scores OPA over ‘unavailable’ report

Marianas Public Lands Authority chair Ana Demapan-Castro has decried the Office of the Public Auditor’s alleged refusal to provide her a copy of an OPA report stating that she may have violated the law in terminating former MPLA commissioner Henry Hofschneider.

In a March 2 letter to public auditor Michael S. Sablan, Demapan-Castro said she was disappointed that the media and the public were informed of OPA’s findings ahead of her.

“As I am the party affected by this OPA report, it is intriguing why I should be the last person to know about this information,” Demapan-Castro said. “You know and your lawyer knows or should have known that this case is presently under litigation. I would hope that the OPA would have kept this information confidential pending the outcome of the litigation.”

Even her efforts to obtain a copy of the OPA report, she said, were met with indifference.

She related that she telephoned the OPA office on March 2 to request a copy of the report. But Nancy Gottfried—the OPA employee who prepared the report—refused, telling Demapan-Castro that she felt “uncomfortable” providing her the report.

She asked Sablan to consider the letter as a request for OPA to present her a copy of the report.

“If this is impossible or difficult to do, I ask that you provide me the reason or basis or justification as to why I am not entitled to obtain a copy of this special report,” said Demapan-Castro.

Sablan was off-island yesterday. He could not be reached for comment at press time.

According to the OPA report, Demapan-Castro may have violated the CNMI Open Government Act for terminating Hofschneider in a non-public hearing.

OPA said the same MPLA board of directors also violated the Act in terminating Hofschneider’s predecessor, Bertha Deleon Guerrero, outside of a public hearing.

Demapan-Castro unilaterally suspended and subsequently terminated Hofschneider over alleged insubordination, citing the then commissioner’s decision to allow the Commonwealth Development Authority to alter a requisition document without the board’s approval and consent.

The document is related to the transfer of MPLA funds at the Bank of Guam to pay for land compensation claims. Hofschneider allegedly allowed CDA executive director Marylou Ada to alter the amount of funds being transferred from $216,322 to $134,695.91 without specific information on the individuals that the revised drawdown amount is intended to compensate.

Hofschneider is currently contesting his termination at the U.S. District Court.