Rasa lawyer insists: AGO made a mistake

Had the 28 theft charges filed against former House Speaker Oscar Rasa proceeded to trial, the matter would have been an embarrassment to the Attorney General’s Office, Rasa’s attorney, Edward Arriola, said yesterday, asserting that the AGO made a mistake when it filed the charges against the former lawmaker.

Superior Court presiding judge Robert Naraja had dismissed the charges with finality last Monday, after CNMI chief prosecutor Jeffrey Moots moved to dismiss the theft charges two weeks ago.

The basis for the AGO seeking dismissal of the charges remains unclear as of press time.

The Saipan Tribune went to the AGO’s criminal division yesterday afternoon, but Moots did not provide an interview, with his staff saying that the prosecutor was occupied. The staff, however, asked this reporter what the inquiry was all about. The Saipan Tribune left a written note for Moots, asking him one interview question as to the basis for seeking dismissal of the charges against Rasa. Moots gave no response as of press time.

The AGO referred this reporter to documents that were filed in court. No dismissal request from the AGO could be seen from the Rasa case folder.

Rasa’s lawyer asserted, though, that the AGO had no basis to file the charges.

“They [AGO staff] rechecked the entries of Oscar Rasa. They discovered that the Rasas have a legitimate interest in the land that is now pending for land compensation before the Marianas Public Lands Authority,” Arriola said.

Arriola insisted that Rasa had always assured businessman Richard Szumiel of payment of loans totaling some $79,500, a matter that should have been dealt with civilly.

Sometime in June, the AGO sought dismissal of the charges against Rasa’s wife, Patricia, saying that interests of justice require the dismissal.

Patricia Rasa’s attorney, chief public defender Masood Karimipour, did not object to the dismissal request. Karimipour clarified, though, in a document submitted to the court that, while the AGO’s dismissal request did not contain the grounds for that request, it could not prove the charges against Patricia beyond reasonable doubt.

The charges accused the Rasas of scheming to defraud an 82-year-old businessman, Richard J. Szumiel, by obtaining numerous loans and misrepresenting that they would receive over $1 million in land compensation claim from the government. Szumiel had allegedly issued to the Rasas 28 checks totaling $72,000 from December 2003 to June 2004, and some $7,500 in cash. The former lawmaker endorsed one check in the amount of $2,800, while Patricia Rasa endorsed almost all the checks issued by Szumiel.

Initial verification made AGO investigators showed that the Rasas had no pending land compensation claim before the MPLA. The charging documents alleged that the ownership of land that the Rasas allegedly represented that they would get compensated for had long been transferred to another person before the defendants’ transactions with Szumiel.

Arriola insisted that the Rasas have a pending land compensation claim. He added that there was a mistake in the investigation of the case, saying that a land in the name of the congressman’s son, Oscar Rasa II, had not been transferred to the ownership of a certain Jose Cabrera. The Rasas have verbally promised Szumiel to use the land as collateral for the loans, Arriola said.

Arriola said he would assist the Rasas in executing mortgage documents in favor of Szumiel.