Previous Story
CNMI govt joins move to dismiss Fund’s bankruptcy petition
|
Posted on May 17 2012
By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter
Reporter
The CNMI government has filed a motion to dismiss the NMI Retirement Fund’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition.
The CNMI, through assistant attorney general Teresita J. Sablan, echoed the position of other parties in the case that the Fund is a government instrumentality and therefore not eligible to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The U.S. District Court for the NMI Bankruptcy Division should dismiss the Fund’s bankruptcy petition because the Fund does not fall within the definition of a person or entity eligible for Chapter 11 protection, said Sablan in the motion filed Wednesday.
Sablan said the CNMI government is an interested party in the proceeding since it created the Fund.
Sablan said the CNMI government believes that the Fund is an integral part of the Executive Branch of the government and wishes to restrain the Fund and its managers from taking actions that are beyond their powers or are contrary to Commonwealth law.
“Further, the government is the ultimate guarantor of government employee retirement benefits,” the lawyer added.
Two unnamed clients of attorney Bruce Jorgensen’s group first brought up the motion to dismiss the Chapter 11 proceedings on the grounds that the Fund’s structure and statutory existence makes it clear that it is a “governmental unit” of the CNMI.
The U.S. Trustee followed Jorgensen’s group’s motion to dismiss on the same grounds.
Two retirees and members of the NMI Retirement Fund later joined the move to dismiss the bankruptcy petition.
