‘Rasa case has already been dealt with civilly’

The Attorney General’s Office had asked the Superior Court to dismiss the 28 theft by deception charges against former House Speaker Oscar Rasa since the lawmaker’s debt has been dealt with civilly.

CNMI chief prosecutor Jeffrey Moots stated this in his written request to the court to dismiss the charges with finality.

“This matter has been dealt with civilly. For good cause, the Commonwealth believes it is in the interest of justice to dismiss the case with prejudice,” Moots said.

Presiding judge Robert Naraja dismissed the charges Monday. But Rasa’s attorney, Edward Arriola, stressed that the dismissal came after Moots conceded that the prosecution could not prove the former lawmaker’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt.

Arriola said he has no knowledge as to whether or not Gov. Juan N. Babauta had a hand in the AGO’s position. The former lawmaker has close ties with Babauta. The governor, posted the $3,000 bail for Rasa and his wife, Patricia, to spare them from spending last Christmas in jail.

Arriola said no charges should have been filed against Rasa in the first place, saying that the AGO mistakenly filed the charges.

The Saipan Tribune has attempted to ask Moots about the legal grounds for seeking dismissal of the charges since Tuesday. Moots did not respond to this reporter’s inquiry as of press time.

The charges accused the Rasas of scheming to defraud businessman Richard Szumiel by obtaining numerous loans and misrepresenting that they would receive over $1 million in land compensation claim from the government. An earlier AGO investigation showed that Szumiel issued to the Rasas 28 checks totaling $72,000 from December 2003 to June 2004, and some $7,500 in cash.

During their initial verification, AGO investigators failed to find any pending land compensation claim by the Rasas with the Marianas Public Lands Authority. 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 belied this, insisting 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 that Rasa had always assured Szumiel of payment of loans totaling some $79,500, a matter that should have been dealt with civilly. He said the Rasas have already executed mortgage documents that secured the loans from Szumiel.

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