aMotte: Minding other people’s businesses

For someone who has been assigned to literally mind other people’s business, it is no longer surprising to have for breakfast an angry call from a government official whose office is under investigation for possible malpractice.

But CNMI Public Auditor Leo Lawrence LaMotte says his experience of more than 30 years in the auditing and accounting profession had equipped him against anticipated retaliation or harassment from the people his office investigates.

“I have long accepted that it’s part of the job of a public auditor. Nobody likes to be criticized and nobody wants to be subjected to an audit or investigation so an angry reaction from them is but a normal reaction. It’s already anticipated,” he says.

Surprisingly, since he assumed the position as an acting public auditor in July 1, 1994, Mr. LaMotte never had to take angry calls or threats from investigated government officials.

“I was never been harassed, at least not here. From the time I took the position, I only had two calls which you might consider angry calls but were actually more of an expression of frustration over our audit investigation,” he adds.

According to Mr. LaMotte, majority of the government officials who were placed under investigation by the Office of the Public Auditor were, in fact, very cooperative in terms of providing the important documents necessary for the completion of the probe.

He has admitted though that he expected to receive a cold welcome from the Commonwealth government when he arrived on Saipan in June 10, 1994. “It was part of the things I had expected mainly because of the nature of what my job here would be.”

Mr. LaMotte was appointed acting public auditor in July 1, 1994 and was confirmed by the CNMI House of Representatives in February 1995. The Senate confirmed his appointment in May 4, 1995.

The public auditor is the only government position in the Commonwealth which requires confirmation by both houses of the CNMI Legislature.

The only qualification to become a public auditor in the Northern Marianas is to be a United States Certified Public Accountant but Mr. LaMotte is definitely more than that, having been connected with prestigious organizations in the mainland U.S.

Prior to his appointment as public auditor in the CNMI. he has worked for more than 25 years with the U.S. General Accounting Office, advancing rapidly with yearly promotions and was named audit supervisor after only one year.

For almost two years, Mr. LaMotte was also policy, plans and programs director of the Inspector General of the US Agency for International Development, where he attended top level staff meetings, discussions of the U.S. President’s Council on Efficiency and Integrity.

In 1984, he was appointed AID’s Regional Inspector General headquarters in Manila, Philippines. He held the position until 1988, and has provided the Philippine government audit assistance during the time late President Ferdinand Marcos was accused of diverting millions for his own purposes.

He retired from U.S. government service on December 31, 1989 and went back to private practice where he performed some investigative work in Bangladesh, Germany and in Israel.

Before he was offered the public auditor’s job in the CNMI, Mr. LaMotte was working with Deloitte and Touche Tohmatsu International in Jerusalem with the World Band assisting the new Palestinian authorities to establish a new government.

“A public auditor should be held to a higher standard of integrity and independence,” he says, adding that his track of experience has equipped him to properly and diplomatically handle angry reaction from people in the government whose businesses he was required to mind.

Mr. LaMotte has over 30 years working overseas. His profession has brought him to countries like Japan, Korea, Dakar Senegal, Nairobi Kenya, Germany, Israel, and the Philippines.

He is married to Filipina Teofila LaMotte with whom he has boys who are in 7th, 3rd and 2nd grades. Mrs. LaMotte is expecting to receive her certificate of U.S. citizenship today.

Asked why he accepted the job in the Commonwealth, Mr. LaMotte says the position offered him the unique opportunity to return to public service on a full-time position. “I have also been traveling for more than 30 years and I wanted to spend more time with my family.”