‘Focus must be on whether Buckingham should be prosecuted’

The Senate Committee on Executive Appointment and Government Investigations chair said yesterday that with the Office of the Public Auditor’s investigation report on Attorney General Edward T. Buckingham now widely distributed in the CNMI, the focus now must be on whether to pursue criminal prosecution of the violations found.

At the same time, Senate President Paul Manglona (Ind-Rota) referred the OPA investigation report and letter to the EAGI Committee chaired by Sen. Frank Cruz (R-Tinian) “for review.”

Manglona gave Cruz’s committee 30 days to report on its findings and recommendations, if any, to the full Senate.

“This is a very important issue and I ask your committee to give its full attention to this issue,” Manglona told Cruz in a letter yesterday.

OPA’s December 2010 report, which Gov. Benigno R. Fitial has not released, concludes that Buckingham’s hosting of a campaign party for the governor’s delegate candidate on Aug. 28, 2010 “violated criminal prohibitions” of both the Commonwealth Ethics Code Act and the Commonwealth Election Act.

Public Auditor Michael Pai, in his letter accompanying the report, states that OPA has determined that the cost of prosecution to the CNMI taxpayers would outweigh any potential benefit in terms of enforcing the Commonwealth laws and restoring the public’s trust in its government, so OPA deferred to and relied on Fitial and Lt. Gov. Eloy S. Inos to impose “administrative sanctions.”

Senate floor leader Pete Reyes (R-Saipan), during yesterday’s session, asked why the Legislature was not provided a copy of the investigation report on the AG. Other senators echoed his concern.

Cruz, when asked for comment, said the EAGI Committee will soon convene to start a review of the “OPA report and recommendation of ethics investigation of Attorney General Edward T. Buckingham.”

He said because OPA already concluded and reported its investigation, the focus now must be on whether to pursue criminal prosecution of the violations found.

Cruz said it is “not fair” that Buckingham was recommended by OPA to only get a “slap on the wrist” while others found in criminal violations get fined, jailed, or both.

The senator was referring to OPA’s recommendations for “administrative action” that include requiring the AG to apologize publicly “for causing any loss of public confidence in the 2010 election.”

“I am very concerned because OPA’s recommendation is very lenient. It’s a slap on the wrist. While ordinary people get penalized, fined, or sent to prison if they’re found violating criminal prohibitions, the CNMI’s highest law enforcement official is not. He’s only recommended to apologize publicly. That’s one of the recommendations by the public auditor,” Cruz said.

Cruz made it clear that because the EAGI Committee has yet to meet, there is no decision yet on what to focus on or what the recommended course of action would be.

The Senate EAGI Committee also made an earlier request to the CNMI Bar Association to investigate Buckingham for alleged ethical violations, mainly in relation to a separate matter when he approved a sole-source ARRA management contract worth almost $400,000.

The CNMI Bar Association is now investigating the Senate complaint.

The probe request to the Bar Association and the resolution that the Senate adopted also mentioned Buckingham’s involvement in the campaign gathering for then delegate candidate Joseph N. Camacho.

Cruz said the newly leaked OPA investigation report may also be referred to the CNMI Bar Association.

Delegate Gregorio Kilili Sablan (Ind-MP), one of those who filed a complaint with OPA and the Commonwealth Election Commission on Buckingham’s activities related to the Camacho campaign, earlier said the “attorney general broke the law.”

“If the attorney general had any respect for the people of the Northern Mariana Islands, he would at least offer a public apology. And if he had any sense of honor, he would apologize to the public employees who were pressured into breaking Commonwealth election and/or ethics laws by their higher ups,” Sablan told Saipan Tribune.

Sablan later told KSPN 2 that no one, including Buckingham, should be above the law.