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Magofna: Is OPA looking into $165K billing?
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Posted on Feb 02 2022
Rep. Corina L. Magofna (D-Saipan) asked Public Auditor Kina B. Peter yesterday whether the Office of the Public Auditor is looking into the $165,000 billing of a company for providing COVID-19 sanitation services.
In a letter to Peter, Magofna said that invoices from JOGO Sanitation Services have raised many concerns from taxpayers, including Lt. Gov. Arnold I. Palacios.
Magofna
The lawmaker, who is vice chair of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, requested the public auditor for a briefing on what actions OPA has taken, if any, since these JOGO invoices came to light.
Rep. Edwin K. Propst (D-Saipan), who recently exposed JOGO’s invoices, noted that the company was being paid $4,749 per day just to sanitize the Pedro P. Tenorio Multi-Purpose Center in Susupe. Jesseleo Taimanao Ogo, who owns the company, has yet to comment on the issue.
Magofna said she trusts that OPA is performing its fiduciary duties under the NMI Constitution, being an independent agency of the CNMI government in charge of oversight and enforcement of public funds.
Citing the Commonwealth Code, the lawmaker said the role of the auditor is to “audit the receipt, possession and disbursement of public funds” and “perform other duties as provided by law.”
She said duties under the Commonwealth Code include a policing authority to “prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse in collection and expenditures of all public funds.”
Magofna earlier disclosed that the $165,000 JOGO billing was part of the reasons why the Ways and Means Committee will be conducting an oversight hearing on all contracts relating to the CNMI’s COVID-19 response.
