OPA, AGO finalize inquiry on allegations vs CUC’s Villagomez

A report from the Public Auditor and the Attorney General which is expected to shed light on the controversial affidavit allegedly signed by the former wife of Utilities Corporation Executive Director Timothy Villagomez will be made known Thursday next week.

Senator Joaquin Adriano, chair of the Senate Committee on Executive Appointments and Governmental Investigations, said the OPA and the AGO are already finalizing details of their inquiry into the allegations contained in the affidavit.

Members of Mr. Adriano’s influential committee met with Public Auditor Leo LaMotte and Acting AG Herbert Soll yesterday where concerns surrounding the allegations against Mr. Villagomez were discussed.

“The Public Auditor and the Attorney General, who is still new in the position, has asked for another week to complete their investigation. They are scheduled to present their report before the EAGI Thursday next week,” Mr. Adriano said.

At the same time, the senator disclosed that the EAGI is yet to receive official documents that would prove Mr. Villagomez’s claims that he had already been cleared by the Attorney General of the allegations hurled against him by his estranged wife in the reported affidavit.

“We’ve heard about the CUC executive director being cleared as he claims but we have not receive anything official to prove his claims,” he told reporters.

Mr. Villagomez had repeatedly stressed that the charges against him were cleared by the AGO’s Criminal Division after a “thorough” investigation conducted since September last year.

In a news conference late last year, Mr. Villagomez denied knowledge of allegations of bribery to favor one of the bidders as speculations arose due to the delay in awarding the controversial 80-megawatt power plant contract.

In a related development, Senator Ramon S. Guerrero yesterday demanded that the CUC administration provide him with the documents he requested from the government-controlled corporation since Jan. 27, 2000.

Apparently irked by Mr. Villagomez’s alleged failure to make the requested documents available, Mr. Guerrero cited the CUC official’s obligation under CMC 1308 to furnish him, being part of a Senate committee investigating the allegations, the requested information.

“[Y]ou are under a duty to cooperate with any investigating committee and with its representatives and furnish to it or to its representatives such information as may be called for in connection with the research activities of the committee,” Mr. Guerrero told the CUC executive director.

He wants the requested documents delivered to his office by Friday.

William J. Ohle, CUC legal counsel, has written Mr. Guerrero informing him that the requested documents have been available for inspection and review since Jan. 27, 2000.

Mr. Ohle also stressed that neither the Senate nor its public utilities committee has issued a subpoena for the documents “and without a subpoena compelling the delivery of originals, CUC is not in the position to relinquish custody of such.”