Ex-officials authorized Cabrera’s expenditures

Former CNMI officials appeared to have authorized expenditures of thousands of dollars in public funds that were alleged to have taken improperly by ex-Finance Secretary Antonio R. Cabrera.

This was the point argued by defense lawyer Joey Arriola during the continuation of his trial for corruption charges in the U.S. District Court yesterday.

Federal prosecutors propped up their case against Mr. Cabrera with several documents presented to the jury and testimonies heard in the courtroom, including from the chief aide of then-Gov. Froilan C. Tenorio.

Mr. Cabrera, 40, is accused of stealing, misapplication of funds and bribery by the federal government, which stemmed from incidents that occurred between 1995 to 1997 while serving in his Cabinet as secretary of the Department of Finance.

Mr. Tenorio himself was sitting in the gallery of the district court in Horiguchi Building during parts of yesterday’s proceeding that lasted from 9:00 a.m. up to 5:00 p.m.

But he had left already when Herman T. Guerrero, his executive assistant when he assumed office in January 1994 until December 1997, took the witness stand.

Based on the evidence revealed by the prosecution, Mr. Guerrero admitted signing requests for travel advances, official representations and reimbursements for the two off-island trips made by Mr. Cabrera in 1996.

Assistant District Attorney Kevin Seely, lead prosecutor, claimed the defendant stole $30,000 from CNMI coffers from these trips.

Documents showed Mr. Guerrero authorized release of $10,000 in official representation for use by Mr. Cabrera for a Far East Asian trip in October 1996 with then governor in the entourage. He also signed the request for $20,000 for a trip to Manila in December of the same year.

According to Mr. Seely, two other memoranda signed by Mr. Guerrero allowed release of $14,653.10 to reimburse the defendant for the October trip and $20,844.35 for the December trip.

Lax

The witness said he does not recall seeing receipts when these requests for reimbursements came to his office, although he approved them.

When questioned by Mr. Seely why he did not check whether receipts were attached to the requests, Mr. Guerrero told the court he “must have forgotten” it.

“I handled a lot of paperwork [as executive assistant to the governor],” he said.

Mr. Seely then repeatedly asked him whether it would have been logical to deduct the reimbursements from the advances, Mr. Guerrero took time to response, but finally said: “I’m not quite sure. That would be the logical thing to do.”

During cross-examination, Mr. Arriola pointed out he could be held accountable for approving the payment and could face charges from the federal government.

Mr. Guerrero said he assumed the receipts from Mr. Cabrera were all accounted for since he was the finance secretary. “I have to admit that I’m lax in that area,” he added.

When the defense asked him if he had received immunity from the prosecution to testify in the court, he answered no. He said the federal government subpoenaed him and that he was questioned by both local and federal officials concerning the case.

“Mr. Cabrera is facing criminal charges for what you have signed,” Mr. Arriola told him — an assertion that the prosecution later clarified in a rebuttal from the witness.

A former DOF employee, on the other hand, testified she refused to sign an accounts payable voucher requested by Mr. Cabrera for the $10,000.

Maria Cepeda, an accountant supervising the account in 1996, said it was improper because the account should have been taken out from travel advance instead of the official representation.

That request was eventually approved by then former Finance Deputy Secretary Gabriel Camacho, she said.

But she admitted she certified the $20,000 for the Manila trip because “he was given the first one, so why can’t he be given the other one?”

Bribe

Earlier in yesterday’s proceeding, two witnesses alleged Mr. Cabrera received $3,000 in December 1996 as bribe in exchange for the release of $30,621.25 from DOF in payment for a land surveying contract on Tinian.

Candido Castro, owner of surveying firm Castro and Associates, said he agreed to give the defendant the money after meeting with him through a mutual friend, Herman C. Santos.

The money was written in Mr. Castro’s checking account under Mr. Santos’ name. The latter testified he encashed the money and later gave it to Mr. Cabrera in an envelope when they met later at J’s Restaurant in Gualo Rai.

Mr. Santos had called the $3,000 as loan when he approached him, but Mr. Castro told the court he considered it a bribe so that he could get the balance of the $100,000 contract still owed by the government to his firm from Mr. Cabrera.

The defense, however, noted Mr. Castro was not certain whether the former finance chief had received the bribe as he asked Mr. Santos and Mr. Cabrera for a meeting in December 1999 at the Hyatt Regency apparently on the instruction of the Federal Burea of Investigation.

That meeting was supposed to have confirmed receipt of the bribe by the defendant, but Mr. Cabrera refused to say anything about it when it was found out their conversation was being tapped through Mr. Castro.

The businessman had entered a plea agreement with the federal government on mail fraud charges and his testimony is part of that deal, Mr. Arriola claimed.

Mr. Santos testified, however, that he confronted Mr. Cabrera later after the meeting aboard the latter’s car why he denied receiving the money.

“He told me that he has to protect himself. But I told him the jury and the FBI can tell who’s telling the truth,” he said.