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Palacios: Agencies need to be more aggressive in recovering $6.2M
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Posted on Jan 07 2012
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Reporter
Reporter
Rep. Joseph Palacios (R-Saipan) expressed disappointment yesterday that government agencies, including the Office of the Attorney General, have not been making any progress collecting at least a portion of $6.2 million in taxpayers’ money that were misspent, overpaid to professional service contractors or unpaid land leases dating as far back as 1995 despite repeated reminders from the Office of the Public Auditor.
The freshman lawmaker said there are ways to collect from these entities, including going after the apartments, for example, that these people own.
“These apartments can become CNMI government assets. Another way is to hold their tax rebate and tax refunds, so that they can pay the government back. The government always says we have no money but they act like we don’t need money,” he added.
Palacios said he tried to introduce a bill that would give OPA prosecutorial authority so that, among other things, OPA will be able to go after entities that owe the government money, for example. But he said such proposal wasn’t gaining any support from his colleagues.
“Because of statute of limitation, that recoverable money was drastically reduced from $13 million-plus to only $6.2 million. Sooner or later, it would be zero because the agencies that are supposed to collect are not doing anything or not aggressive enough,” he said.
The Department of Labor, for example, has yet to collect from two companies $512,410 in nonresident worker application fees in 2005.
OAG also has yet to recover $392,178 from former members of the Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission for their outstanding travel advances in 2002.
The freshman lawmaker said he’s considering introducing a bill that would extend the CNMI’s statute of limitation, and would look into possible sanctions if agencies continue to ignore their responsibilities.
