Collection status of $400K from former shipowners sought

The House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee has requested Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig to appear for a meeting this Tuesday to provide information on, among other things, the collection status of the $400,000 that the former owners of M/V Luta have agreed to pay as part of a settlement agreement with the CNMI government in 2019.

Ways and Means Committee vice chair Rep. Corina L. Magofna (D-Saipan) informed House Speaker Rep. Edmund S. Villagomez (Ind-Saipan) and members of the committee that the purpose of the meeting is to invite Atalig to provide reports, updates, and briefings on the CNMI’s financial matters.

Magofna included the collection status of the $400,000 in the “other fiscal-related matters” of the meeting agenda.

The meeting will be in the House chamber at 10am.

Magofna said yesterday that the meeting was originally scheduled last Jan. 21, but Finance was not able to make it and had requested to do it in February instead.

At a Senate session last week, Sen. Edith E. DeLeon Guerrero (D-Saipan) expressed concern as to why Finance and the Office of the Attorney General have not collected a single penny from the former owners of M/V Luta.

Gov. Ralph DLG Torres informed the Legislature last Dec. 29 about vetoing a Senate local bill that sought to earmark the $400,000 repayment by Luta Mermaid LLC and local poker fees for the Rota Interisland Medical Referral patients, medical subsistence program, and Rota Municipal Scholarship.

Torres said that, according to Finance and OAG, although the defendants in the Luta Mermaid litigation have agreed to repay the settlement amount of $400,000, no payment has been made to the Commonwealth yet.

The governor, however, disclosed that the OAG had informed him that an order to show cause motion will be filed shortly to enforce the settlement terms of the lawsuit.

Magofna also requested Atalig to brief them about the ASC Trust delinquent payment notice, annual fiscal report for fiscal year 2021, the fiscal year 2022 first quarter expenditure report, CARES Act expenditure report, and about the distribution of $80 million the CNMI received under the American Rescue Plan Act.

In addition, Magofna asked Atalig to discuss the guidance for premium pay and retirees’ bonuses, reprogramming report for fiscal year 2022 as of Jan. 31, 2022, the “travel bucks” for tourists as of Jan. 31, 2022, and the amount of attorneys’ fees the witnesses incurred for appearing before the House Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee in its investigation into Torres’ expenditures of public trust and travels. She requested Atalig to brief them about attorneys’ fees contract amounts and payments made as of Jan. 31, 2022.