Hasselback mum on Fitial request to quash arrest warrant

Office of the Public Auditor legal counsel George L. Hasselback is keeping mum on OPA’s position regarding former governor Benigno R. Fitial’s request to quash the arrest warrant issued against him so he could return to the Commonwealth.
Hasselback also disclosed yesterday that, while the case against Fitial’s former escort/driver, Jermaine Joseph Wabol Nekaifes, has already been dismissed, the cases against the other co-defendants are still pending in Superior Court.

Hasselback said they will be filing a response to Fitial’s motions in the next day or two and they will have a hearing on Monday.

“So I really don’t have a comment until then,” he said.

Fitial, through counsel Stephen Nutting, filed with the Superior Court on Friday a declaration, stating his intent to return to the CNMI from the Philippines to face the charges against him.

OPA filed seven charges against the 68-year-old Fitial for his role in shielding former attorney general Edward T. Buckingham from being served with a penal summons in August 2012.

Hasselback said they are waiting to find out which judge will handle the cases against the other co-defendants who participated in escorting and shielding Buckingham. He said they will then request for a trial date.

On Feb. 25, 2014, Superior Court Associate Judge Kenneth L. Govendo dismissed the case against Nekaifes without prejudice, at Hasselback’s request. Dismissed without prejudice means the plaintiff is allowed to re-open the case in the future.

Hasselback agreed to dismiss the case against Nekaifes as part of the government’s deal for the former police captain to testify against Buckingham.

During Buckingham’s trial last month, Nekaifes testified that Fitial instructed him not to allow Federal Bureau of Investigation agents from approaching Buckinghan at the Saipan International Airport on Aug. 4, 2012.

Nekaifes also stated that he believes that part of the purpose of escorting Buckingham and his wife to the airport was to prevent OPA from serving the penal summons.

The information charged the 40-year-old Nekaifes with several related charges of conspiracy to commit theft of services, obstructing justice, interference with service or process, and misconduct in public office.

Aside from Fitial, Buckingham, and Nekaifes, the other co-defendants are former Department of Public Safety deputy commissioner Ambrosio Ogumoro, former Commonwealth Ports Authority police chief Jordan Kosam, and former CPA police captain Juan Rebuenog.