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Fund: IDS checks bounced
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Posted on Nov 04 2006
The NMI Retirement Fund has confirmed that checks paid by a Guam-based accounting firm for the Commonwealth Ports Authority have failed to clear when cashed.
“We attempted to cash IDS checks but our attempts failed. It didn’t clear,” said Fund administrator Mark Aguon in an interview.
The Guam-based Information Data Services is alleged to have withheld over $350,000 in employer contribution funds of CPA. This amount covers seven pay periods, said the CPA.
Preliminary information showed that IDS may have withheld a total of over $12 million belonging to its clients in Guam and on Saipan.
IDS used to provide payroll processing services for big companies.
On Saipan, IDS clients included CPA from the government and at least three hotels—Saipan World Resort, Pacific Islands Club, and Hotel Nikko Saipan—from the private sector.
Last week, Public Auditor Michael Sablan said that his office’s investigation of the CPA exposure includes determining whether the CNMI government received the right taxes from these clients.
Sablan said his team is working closely with the CNMI Revenue and Taxation Division to check on the matter.
Further, the CPA is working with the CNMI Attorney General’s Office on possible criminal and legal actions against IDS.
