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OPA to look into transition reports
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Posted on Jan 01 2006
The Office of Public Auditor has expressed interest in looking at the findings of the incoming administration’s transition committee, which has just completed evaluating the state of CNMI government agencies.
Public auditor Michael Sablan attended the transition committee’s final meeting Friday. The subcommittees submitted their reports on the month-long assessment of the Executive Branch and the autonomous government agencies.
OPA has not yet received copies of the reports, as they are not yet final. “But we’re very interested in hearing from the committees when they finalize their reports,” Sablan said.
He noted that OPA may have received and was already looking into some of the findings the committees may have come up with. But he did not rule out the possibility that new allegations of government abuse may still be uncovered.
“We would be very interested in hearing from the committees if they have uncovered allegations of abuse that have not been brought to our attention previously. We can’t be everywhere every time. We rely very heavily on outside callers for reports of any irregularities,” he said.
Transition committee chairman Martin Manglona has also requested Sablan to conduct an ethics presentation to the yet-to-be disclosed appointees of the Fitial administration.
“We are more happy to do that. Although we do a lot of investigations, we’re also available to educate so we can avoid problems. And I would much rather come here in the beginning and help avoid problems by educating,” Sablan said.
Manglona said earlier that prosecution of current government officials or employees may result from the transition reports.
According to Manglona, his members have found acts of wrongdoing in the process of their assessing the Executive Branch and other agencies. Some of the cases are now under investigation.
“There will be some prosecution when the new administration comes in,” Manglona said. He refused to provide further details.
