Previous Story
Fitial to skip DOI biz summit
|
Posted on Apr 02 2009
Gov. Benigno Fitial will not be attending a Department of Interior-sponsored business summit as originally scheduled, in light of Lt. Gov. Timothy Villagomez’s trial.
Fitial had been scheduled to attend the 2009 Island Business Opportunities summit in Honolulu next Monday through Wednesday with Guam Gov. Felix Camacho and American Samoa Gov. Togiola Tulafono, but he has decided to stay in the CNMI, he said yesterday during a news briefing. Fitial had made the plans in January.
“Unfortunately, I informed [Office of Insular Affairs’] Nik Pula I will not be able to attend because I feel it will be a disservice on my part when my lieutenant governor is undergoing a court hearing.”
Villagomez, along with his sister Joaquin Santos, and then-Commerce Secretary James Santos, are on trial for allegedly bilking the CNMI out of thousands of dollars through business deals involving needless purchases of Rydlyme, a cleaning and de-scaling chemical, for the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.
The governor does not plan on attending the trial but will instead “respect the judicial process,” press secretary Charles Reyes said.
The business summit will bring together government officials and business leaders from the CNMI, Guam, American Samoa, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Palau, FSM and the Marshall Islands.
Yesterday was the first day of the CNMI’s own business summit. It continues into today and is being used to prepare for next week’s Interior session.
