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US govt asks court to declare Miah in breach of plea agreement
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Posted on Mar 21 2012
The U.S. government filed yesterday a motion asking the federal court to declare Mohammad Jahangir Miah, the suspect in a scheme of cashing fraudulent CNMI tax refund checks in grocery stores, in breach of a plea agreement that he entered in connection with the driver’s license scam case.
Assistant U.S. attorney Garth R. Backe also filed a motion to continue the sentencing hearing of Miah presently scheduled for tomorrow, Friday, before the U.S. District Court for the NMI.
Backe said the plea agreement that Miah entered with the U.S. government last August, expressly stated that, should defendant “engage in criminal conduct after the entry of his plea agreement and before sentencing,” the government would then “be free from its obligations under the Agreement.”
Backe said Miah, on the other hand, would remain “guilty of the matters to which he had pled pursuant to this Agreement.”
The prosecutor said the U.S. government provides official notice to both Miah and the court of its position that defendant has, in breach of the agreement, engaged in such criminal conduct.
Backe said that on Monday, the defendant was charged with a criminal complaint charging him with conspiracy to commit bank fraud, an offense alleged to have commenced on or about Jan. 15, 2012 and continued to the date of filing.
In light of the charge and Miah’s conduct, Backe said the government requests the court set the matter for hearing.
At the hearing, he said, the government intends to prove defendant’s breach by a preponderance of the evidence.
“If, at the conclusion of the hearing, the court finds that defendant ‘engaged in criminal conduct after the entry of his plea agreement and before sentencing,’ the government will ask the court to further find that it is no longer bound by the terms of the agreement…” Backe said.
He also requested that Miah’s sentencing tomorrow, Friday, be continued so that this issue can be addressed beforehand.
