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UMDA asks CNMI court to set trial on Aug. 3
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Posted on Feb 22 2009
Pursuant to a court request on Feb. 17, attorneys for United Micronesia Development Association have filed a proposed scheduling order with Presiding Judge Robert C. Naraja of the CNMI Superior Court in UMDA’s ongoing multi-million dollar lawsuit against Robert Pfaff, John Larson, and their shell companies and offshore trusts.
Friday’s proposed order submitted by UMDA lays out a detailed schedule of key dates, leading up to a proposed first day of trial on Aug. 3, 2009. This is the second time UMDA has produced a proposed order at the court’s request, while defendants have thus far failed to provide any detailed schedule, much less a proposed trial date.
“After two years of litigation, we believe that it’s time for UMDA shareholders to have their day in court and finally learn what happened to our company during the 10 years that defendants were enriching themselves at shareholders’ expense. I hear every day from shareholder representatives like Clarence Tenorio, one of the directors of Joeten Enterprises on Saipan, asking when the case will go to trial,” said UMDA chair Jose Lifoifoi. “I know that I’m speaking for all 1,200 Micronesian shareholders in UMDA, including the governments of the CNMI, Palau and the Federal States of Micronesia, when I express the hope that the trial will go forward in August as we have proposed to the court.”
Lifoifoi continued, “At this late date defendants are renewing their efforts to hide key documents behind a proposed protective order, including those that might reveal the existence of their offshore bank accounts. It’s not surprising that convicted tax cheats like Mr. Pfaff and Mr. Larson would want to conceal both their past activities and their hidden assets from both UMDA and the federal tax authorities. But I strongly believe that it’s in the public interest that these documents are made public and that court hearings should be open to our shareholders in the months to come.”
UMDA was founded in 1966 in Saipan. Its shareholders include the government or governmental entities of the CNMI, Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and thousands of individual Micronesians and their families.[B][I] (UMDA)[/I][/B]
