{"id":402581,"date":"2023-12-27T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-27T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=402581"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"OAG-CNMI-gov-t-face-civil-suit-because-of-subpoena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/OAG-CNMI-gov-t-face-civil-suit-because-of-subpoena\/","title":{"rendered":"OAG, CNMI gov\u2019t face civil suit because of subpoena"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Office of the Attorney General and the CNMI government are facing a civil lawsuit brought by a former governor Ralph DLG Torres\u2019 campaign treasurer regarding a subpoena she was served pursuant to her role as treasurer in Torres\u2019 election campaign committee.<\/p>\n

Last week, Zerlyn A. Taimanao, through attorney Keith Chambers, sued the OAG and the CNMI government in Superior Court regarding a subpoena she got for the role she played in the Torres-Sablan campaign committee.<\/p>\n

Taimanao served as treasurer for the Torres-Sablan committee in the 2022 election.<\/p>\n

Taimanao, through her lawyer, is asking the Superior Court to stop the OAG from enforcing the subpoena against her.<\/p>\n

As relief, Taimanao wants the Superior court to declare the subpoena null and void and has no legal force and effect.<\/p>\n

According to the complaint, after the 2022 election that concluded in November 2022, Taimanao submitted her report on the campaign\u2019s statement of account to the Office of the Public Auditor.<\/p>\n

Soon after, the commissioner of the Department of Public Safety, the public auditor, and the attorney general executed a memorandum of agreement establishing the Joint White-Collar Crime, Government Corruption and Financial Crimes task force.<\/p>\n

On or about Oct. 31, 2023, the OAG applied for a subpoena duces tecum<\/em> with the Superior Court clerk of court, which was to be served on Taimanao in her official capacity, and on Vinnie Sablan in his personal capacity.<\/p>\n

The subpoena application was not connected to any civil or criminal case pending before the Superior Court, the complaint noted.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 31, 2023, the clerk issued a subpoena duces tecum<\/em> pursuant to the OAG\u2019s application and Taimanao was served that same day.<\/p>\n

The subpoena requested written record of all contributions and expenses made to and by the Torres-Sablan campaign committee; written record of all contributions from contributors and supporters, and all campaign expenses paid; the names and identities of all contributors and supporters who contributed $100 or more in cash or fair market value of property; a record of any and all contributions of less than $100 from a contributor or supporter; any and all records of the communications required for reasonable diligence of a candidate; and any and all communications of any expenses of contract, authorizations, or requests.<\/p>\n

Taimano, through her lawyer, argues that the subpoena should be quashed as it is invalid and unlawful. Specifically, Chambers argues that the OAG does not have the authority to issue a subpoena, and the public auditor lacks the authority to investigate a campaign committee or subpoena any materials from it.<\/p>\n

In addition, Chambers argues that the Joint White-Collar Crime, Government Corruption and Financial Crimes task force is invalid as there is no legislative authority authorizing the task force.<\/p>\n

Chambers also argues that the subpoena issued to his client is invalid because the application for the subpoena was not connected to any civil or criminal case pending before a court.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The CNMI Guma Hustisia or CNMI Judiciary in Susupe.<\/p>\n

-KIMBERLY B. ESMORES
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The Office of the Attorney General and the CNMI government are facing a civil lawsuit…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-402581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402581","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\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=402581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=402581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=402581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=402581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}