Witnesses: Villagomez had already OK’d transaction

A former procurement specialist at the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. and a former acting chief of CUC Procurement and Supply took the witness stand yesterday in the ongoing jury trial of Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez, both saying they processed the purchase of Rydlyme because Villagomez had already approved the transaction.

Testifying for the U.S. government, former CUC procurement specialist 4 Rosalia Cabrera Duenas said she saw the signature of the then CUC executive director Villagomez in the document provided by her supervisor.

Shown a document by assistant U.S. attorney Eric O’Malley, Duenas identified it as the memorandum that she prepared in April 1998.

The document was a request for procurement action to process the purchase order for Rydlyme in the amount of $13,125 from ISLA Sales Micronesia. James Santos, a co-defendant in the case, is the owner of ISLA Sales. His wife, Joaquina Santos, is Villagomez’s sister and is also a co-defendant.

Duenas said then purchasing supervisor, Gary Camacho, told her what to type in the justification for the procurement action.

“He [Camacho] dictated the justification because I don’t know what Rydlyme is,” the witness said.

When asked as to who requested CUC to buy the Rydlyme, Duenas said she saw the signature of Villagomez in the document provided by her supervisor. She said she prepared the purchase order for Rydlyme because when she received the invoice there was a justification to process it.

Ramon Quichocho, lawyer for Joaquina Santos, told Duenas that the message in the document that it’s okay to process it was not signed by Villagomez, to which Duenas replied: “Yes, but I know his handwriting.”

Quichocho asked if she reviewed what she typed based on what Camacho dictated to her.

“I don’t remember. I don’t know what to say because I don’t know what is Rydlyme,” the witness answered.

On the other hand, John Castro Mafnas, the former acting chief of CUC Procurement and Supply and the current CUC warehouse manager, testified that when he was the acting chief of Procurement and Supply, he became aware of Rydlyme because there was a purchase request for the product.

Mafnas admitted seeing the memorandum containing the justification to purchase the Rydlyme that was prepared by Duenas.

He said he signed the purchase order because he was only the acting chief of Procurement and Supply and he saw that Villagomez, as executive director and his boss, had already signed it.

Mafnas identified a document shown him by the prosecutor as a CUC check in the amount of $13,125 that was payable to ISLA Sales. He agreed with O’Malley that the check corresponds to the purchase order.

Lujan asked Mafnas if the check was payment for Rydlyme. The witness answered, “Yes.” But Lujan said the check does not have the word Rydlyme on it. Mafnas again replied, “Yes.”

Mafnas also stated that he wrote: “I’m writing this P.O. per Director’s OK” on the request for procurement action that was prepared by Duenas.

When Saipan Tribune left the courtroom, Mafnas was still on the witness stand.

Earlier in the proceeding, Villagomez’s counsel, David J. Lujan, completed his cross-examination of former CUC internal auditor Soc Nilo Villanueva.

Lujan asked Villanueva whether he saw any document that said that Villagomez, as executive director, deemed Rydlyme fit for a sole source contract.

Villanueva answered, “No.”

Lujan also showed a memorandum dated Jan. 6, 2000, from CUC purchasing supervisor Joseph Fejeran that stated that three vendors were given an opportunity to provide quotations for Rydlyme, but only ISLA Sales responded and was awarded.

When asked as to who is authorized to conduct a sole source contract for CUC, Villanueva said it’s the executive director.

O’Malley asked Villanueva if he has changed his opinion about the purchases of Rydlyme after seeing some documents shown to him in court.

The former internal auditor said he believes it still appears that the purchases of the chemical were divided artificially to avoid the procurement regulations.

He said he still believes there was a conflict of interest between Villagomez as executive director and James Santos, who is his brother-in-law.