‘MHO has tightened rules and practices’
The Marianas Hawaii Office administrator has vowed to shun politics and reported of stricter rules being implemented within the agency.
Hawaii liaison officer Jean D. Sablan, who took over the agency in January 2005, said measures have been installed to ensure that the violations found during an audit of the Hawaii office for fiscal years 1999 through 2002 were not repeated under her watch.
“I have always known that this is a political office and have been trying to change this, at least internally,” Sablan told the Office of the Public Auditor in response to an audit report concerning the MHO.
In her letter, Sablan reported that the MHO addressed OPA’s concern regarding the Hawaii office’s contract with Pagoda Hotel, which provides accommodation for patients referred to hospitals in Hawaii.
The public auditor had recommended that MHO continually monitor the occupancy rate of patients at Pagoda hotel and revise the contract with the hotel as necessary. This came after OPAs found that MHO wasted $77,157 in taxpayers’ money by blocking hotel rooms that were not used by medical referral patients.
According to Sablan, MHO had started monitoring the occupancy rate of CNMI patients at the hotel. She also reported that beginning March 5, 2005, the liaison office blocked five additional rooms due to the increased number of patients from the CNMI.
She noted, however, that the blocked rooms were reserved strictly for patients. “Gone are the days when even CNMI tourists are accommodated at hotels upon the Liaison Office’s request for hotel accommodations,” she said.
Stricter regulations were also put in place to ensure proper documentation of employees’ daily time and attendance, funds used for official representation, and government-funded travels—three of the areas wherein OPA found violations during its audit.
Furthermore, Sablan reported that a complete inventory of all MHO property had been performed and an updated inventory list submitted to the CNMI Procurement and Supply Division. A staff member had been assigned to monitor and review MHO property on a monthly basis.
MHO is also currently implementing controls for long distance controls, as recommended by OPA, according to Sablan.
An audit report recently issued by OPA revealed that the Marianas Hawaii Liaison Office misused public funds by paying improper benefits to personnel, making unjustified trips, failing to put internal controls in place, using official representation money for hosting parties and buying gifts for medical referral patients and other CNMI residents visiting Hawaii, and paying for hotel rooms not used by patients.
The report covered results of an OPA audit of the Hawaii liaison office from Oct. 1, 1999 through Dec. 31, 2002.
