Posted on 09/10/2007 7:49:13 PM PDT by Experiment 6-2-6
FBI arrests Lt. Gov. Ipulasi Aitofele Sunia Lt. Gov. Ipulasi Aitofele Sunia was taken into custody over the weekend by the FBI based on a federal arrest warrant and was then transported to Honolulu on board a military plane.
On the other hand... interesting tagline. LOL!
PAGO PAGO, American Samoa -- The lieutenant governor and a territorial senator of American Samoa have been arrested and charged with fraud, bribery and obstruction in a federal grand jury indictment unsealed in Washington on Monday.
Lt. Gov. Ipulasi Aitofele Sunia appeared Monday before a federal magistrate in Honolulu, while Sen. Tini Lam Yuen surrendered to the FBI in Los Angeles and later appeared in federal court there, FBI spokesman Brandon Simpson said.
Both were released on a $50,000 unsecured bond, and their travel was restricted to American Samoa, Honolulu and Washington, Simpson said. Sunia was to appear in federal court in Washington on Oct. 22, he said.
The charges involved furniture orders given to companies owned by Sunia and Lam Yuen, allegedly without required competitive bids.
Sunia had surrendered to FBI agents in American Samoa and was flown on a Coast Guard plane to Honolulu on Saturday, according to the Samoa News.
The arrests of Sunia, 64, and Lam Yuen, 56, were announced in a Justice Department release from Washington, where the grand jury had met. American Samoa is a U.S. territory without a federal court.
The two officials were charged in a corruption scheme that led to the October 2005 sentencing of two former American Samoa officials. Fa'au Seumanutafa, the territory's chief procurement officer, was sentenced to 30 months in prison, with a $61,000 fine, and former Education Department Director Kerisona Sili Sataua was sentenced to eight months and ordered to pay $85,000.
Sunia's Washington-based attorney, Lanny A. Breuer, said the lieutenant governor would be vindicated in court. He said school furniture from his factory was ordered "for a fair price to benefit the American Samoan children and community."
Lam Yuen's defense attorney, Roy J.D. Hall Jr., declined to comment on the case.
Last year, Sunia professed his innocence in a letter to his family, saying, "I am innocent and I intend to fight the federal government as hard as is necessary to clear my name," he wrote.
According to the indictments, Sunia, who was territorial treasurer at the time, and Lam Yuen allegedly engaged in a scheme to split a large project for school furniture construction among companies they owned and a third company owned by Seumanutafa.
They also allegedly conspired to create paperwork that gave the false appearance that the project was dozens of small projects beneath the $10,000 threshold requiring competitive bidding.
Over three years, contracts they allegedly shared totaled $775,000.
The indictment further alleges the defendants agreed to split the projects with Seumanutafa as a bribe in exchange for his failure to enforce territorial procurement laws and that they gave gifts and free contracting work to Sataua for helping the scheme as head of the Education Department.
The indictment charges Sunia and Lam Yuen each with one count of conspiracy, one count of fraud and one count of bribery related to programs that receive federal funds, and one count each of obstruction of an agency proceeding. Lam Yuen is charged with an additional count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.
Sunia and Lam Yuen face a maximum 20 years in prison and $500,000 fines on the various charges. The case is being prosecuted by the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section.
A few years ago, I recommended that the Admin Mod put that link on the top of the Admin profile page, and lo, it's still there. There's no way I'd remember where the thread is. If I can remember your name, I can find the list.
It was one of my (few) better moments. I only mention it because that's how I found the list tonight. Hopefully, I won't be the only one to remember that it's there :o)
Thank you Glock Rocks!
Oh believe me... I noticed. :-) Just too busy to post on FR.
bttt
threatened to expose Pelosi’s deal to keep the Tuna Factorys working 24/7 on sub-minimum wages???
He wasn't exactly 'sitting in'. The Delegate from American Samoa is a full member of the committee, with powers equal to Hunter or Wexler. He just can't vote on final passage of bills in the full House.
Lt. Governor is nothing! Their courts are headed by a Chief Justice, who is one of only 2 Chief Justices in the Federal Court system. The other of course is the Chief Justice of the USSC!
Ohhhh..Nooooo!
I did that this weekend !
Thank you for clearing that up.
No. But Oscar was Raoul Duke’s Somoaan attorney.
Uncle Duke (from Wikipedia)
First appearance: 8 July 1974
Becomes Governor of American Samoa:
Becomes Ambassador to China:
Suffers acute appendicitis in China: 25 August - 4 September 1976 Becomes coach of the Washington Redskins:
Who are you, who is so wise in the way of Justice?
That's an odd fact to know...
Si Senor...
Wasn’t there something about the Dems wanting America Samoa to be able to have representation in a presidential election or a vote of some other type during the last election?
I got it. Doonesbury reference. Funny :-)
I don’t recall.
I miss being able to vote for President.
But we are stuck with just voting for Governor and our U.S. House of Representative..
I think the Democrats were trying to get the Congressman’s vote to count 100% in congress, not just committees..
I remember hearing something about this during the minimum wage debate.
Or do I need a new tinfoil hat fitting?
yeah, both Chicken of the Sea and Star Kist are based here..
For now..
I have read that American Samoa has the highest per capita consumption of Budweiser on the planet. This was a few years ago, in a National Geographic.
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