All NMI judges recuse selves from Torres petition vs Finance

Roberto Naraja and Kenneth Govendo

The two remaining CNMI Superior Court judges left to hear former governor Ralph DLG Torres’ petition against Department of Finance have officially recused themselves from the case.

Superior Court Presiding Judge Roberto Naraja and Associate Judge Kenneth Govendo officially issued orders yesterday, recusing themselves from hearing Torres’ pending petition against Department of Finance and the Office of the Attorney General regarding special prosecutor James Kingman’s contract.

Without going into detail, Naraja and Govendo both stated in their orders that they must recuse themselves from the case due to a conflict of interest.

In late June Superior Court Associate Judges Joseph N. Camacho, Teresa Kim-Tenorio, and Wesley Bogdan also recused themselves from hearing Torres’ suit.

With this, Torres’ petition is left without a local judge to hear it. This means that, like Torres’ ongoing criminal case, the CNMI Supreme Court will have to appoint a non-CNMI judge to hear the matter.

According to Saipan Tribune archives, Torres, through his defense team, filed a petition for a judicial review of the decision the Department of Finance made in the Kingman case. The DOF and the Office of the Attorney General were named respondents in this matter.

The petition came after Finance Secretary Tracy B. Norita declined to rule or address the merits of Torres’ request that Kingman’s contract with the OAG be declared invalid.

In addition, the agency ruling dismissed Torres’ request finding that the department lacks the authority to issue a declaratory ruling because Kingman’s contract had already been signed.

As relief, Torres is asking the Superior Court to vacate the DOF’s final agency decision on the grounds that the ruling was arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, and contrary to law. The defense also wants the court to rule that the special prosecutor’s contract fails to comply with procurement regulations and is void.

Alternatively, Torres asks that the court set aside the DOF’s final agency ruling and remand the matter back to the agency for a decision on the merits of his request for declaratory relief by an independent and unbiased hearing officer.

Torres is challenging Kingman’s previous contract with the OAG as a special prosecutor in his ongoing criminal case. Torres argues that the contract did not comply with the CNMI’s rules of procurement.

The defense team for Torres is now also strongly opposing Kingman’s recent appointment as a staff attorney for the OAG as an assistant attorney general.