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BREAKING NEWS
Wiseman: Fitial no authority to suspend CUC regs; finds PPA void
Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman issued today, Tuesday, an order finding that then-governor Benigno R. Fitial did not have the authority to suspend Commonwealth Utilities Corp. procurement regulations and that the power purchase agreement Fitial entered with the Saipan Development LLC is void ab initio (from the beginning).
In a 26-page order granting CUC’s motion for partial summary judgment, Wiseman ruled that while Fitial had the authority to declare a state of disaster emergency pursuant to his determination that CUC was unable to provide necessary utilities to the public, he did not have the authority to suspend the applicable regulations binding the CUC executive director and CUC board of directors governing procurement.
Wiseman determined that applicable regulations were not followed in executing the power purchase agreement.
Fitial and then attorney general Edward T. Buckingham signed the power purchase agreement on Aug. 3, 2012, to build a new power plant on Saipan.
The alleged secretive signing of the no-bid, 25-year $190.8 million PPA was one of the issues that led to the filing of impeachment charges against Fitial, who subsequently resigned as governor.
More details to follow.
