Teno, Lang meet over $12M lawsuit

Former Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio’s appeal for assistance in connection with a court ruling on a taxpayers’ lawsuit that ordered him to pay $12.4 million was denied by the current administration following his meeting last Friday with Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio.

The former governor objected to the interpretation of the Attorney General’s Office on an existing law on public employee legal defense and indemnification, saying it was wrong.

“According to them, and I don’t agree with them, that because of this act, the government cannot pay for my defense anymore so they are using this to deny me for paying those things,” he said in an interview over the weekend.

Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio declined to comment about what transpired in their meeting at the Office of the Governor in Capitol Hills, saying the AG will come out with a statement.

“The AG is reviewing that,” he said in an interview after attending the swearing in of the members of the Second Youth Congress last Saturday.

The former governor sought the meeting with Tenorio to ask him to provide him legal assistance on his appeal against an earlier ruling by Superior Court to pay $12.4 million to the CNMI people for spending public funds without legislative appropriation during his term in office.

Issued in 1997 by Special Judge Benjamin J.F. Cruz who is from Guam, the decision on the lawsuit initiated by lawyer Jeanne Rayphand held then-Gov. Froilan responsible for all attorney’s fees and costs on the case stemming from expenditures he made in 1994.

Cruz will hear the appeal next month, although a new attorney for the defense is expected to be decided on or before Oct. 22, according to the judge’s latest ruling on the case that granted request by the former governor for a new hearing schedule.

“I have to come up with an attorney next week and we have to notify the judge,” said Froilan.

The former governor claimed Teno, upon the advise of his legal counsels, declined his request for assistance. “The interpretation of the indemnification act is misleading. Maybe these people (the governor and AG) want to put me in jail,” he said.

“The governor is making a bad precedent if he doesn’t want to protect the government. And because of this matter, the governor now is scared to do anything,” added Froilan.

According to court documents, acting Attorney General Maya B. Kara asked a new hearing schedule in order to allow the former governor to hire a new lawyer to defend him.

Rayphand, through her lawyer Ted Mitchell, earlier sought a court ruling to disqualify the AGO from representing Froilan, who has reportedly expressed interest to replace his current attorney, assistant AG Robert Goldberg, in favor of lawyer Joseph Arriola.

According to Froilan, he did not err when he tapped public funds since at that time his administration was operating under a continuing resolution, and such he was provided unlimited reprogramming authority provided that he won’t exceed appropriations. He said this was supported by a legal opinion drafted by the AG’s office.

“I just learned last Friday that there were several documents, including this legal opinion on reprogramming authority, that were not provided to the judge,” Froilan said.