{"id":361206,"date":"2022-02-03T06:04:05","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T20:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=361206"},"modified":"2022-02-03T06:04:05","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T20:04:05","slug":"manglona-to-ipi-work-with-govt-investigators-on-spilling-beans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/manglona-to-ipi-work-with-govt-investigators-on-spilling-beans\/","title":{"rendered":"Manglona to IPI: Work with gov\u2019t investigators on \u2018spilling beans\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sen. Paul A. Manglona (Ind-Rota) is urging Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC to work with government investigators on its alleged plan to \u201cspill the beans\u201d regarding transactions and relationships with certain CNMI officials. <\/p>\n

In a letter Tuesday addressed to then-IPI chief executive officer Ray N. Yumul, Manglona said that, being an advocate of transparency in government, they welcome any and all information IPI is able to provide with, especially about the Community Benefit Fund.<\/p>\n

Yumul resigned as IPI CEO that same day, Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Yumul had earlier stated that IPI is ready to provide information about political influence committed by local politicians to snag sweetheart contracts, land leases, and contributions from IPI.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Manglona<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Manglona said the CNMI as whole will benefit tremendously with the \u201cbeans\u201d that IPI will provide.<\/p>\n

The senator asked IPI to work in coordination with the appropriate government agencies with this information.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are being pressured by members of the public to do something about the numerous allegations of misuse of public funds and corruption in our government,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Manglona said IPI\u2019s information provided to government investigators will only result in improved government transparency and greater public confidence in the government\u2019s process of coming up with a recommendation for the casino project that are justifiable and, more importantly, will be of benefit to the people of the CNMI.<\/p>\n

Under the casino license agreement, IPI is supposed to contribute annually to the CNMI $20 million, called a Community Benefit Fund, that will be used for community benefit programs.<\/p>\n

Manglona said the Community Benefit Fund monies are not deposited into the General Fund and, pursuant to Section 16 of the casino license agreement, the governor has control over the use of the funds as his consultation is required for the disbursement of any money to the community benefit programs.<\/p>\n

He said the intended uses of the Community Benefit Fund monies are for programs such as education, scholarships, infrastructure, health care, and employee retirement benefits.<\/p>\n

Since the issuance of IPI\u2019s exclusive casino license, Manglona has been requesting for an audit on the use and expenditures of the Community Benefit Fund or an official report on disbursement, if any.<\/p>\n

The senator said that, pursuant to the casino license agreement, IPI should have available or deposited in the Community Benefit Fund a total of $60 million as of Oct. 1, 2020, which includes the 2018, 2019, and 2020 contributions.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo date, we are informed that only approximately $3 million was paid by IPI, leaving an unpaid balance of $57 million,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Manglona said they have not received any information or report from IPI, the governor, or the Office of Public Auditor regarding the exact amount and all disbursement of funds that have been paid to the Community Benefit Fund.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sen. Paul A. Manglona (Ind-Rota) is urging Imperial Pacific International (CNMI) LLC to work with…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":361213,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[900],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-361206","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361206","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361206"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361206\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361206"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361206"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361206"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}