Former Treasury
workers who created bogus tax refunds ordered to pay full restitution
O'Brien:
If ASG didn't act quickly, the feds would have prosecuted this
case
by La Poasa
Samoa News Staff
Deputy Attorney
General Frederick J. O'Brien said if the American Samoa Government
didn't act quickly in handling the case of bogus tax refund checks
worth $53,007, the federal government would have stepped in.
At the sentencing
hearing yesterday of two former Treasury employees convicted
of creating 60 or so bogus tax refund checks between May and
July of last year, O'Brien told the High Court that because ASG
acted quickly in investigating and prosecuting the case, it assured
the Department of Justice that the matter is being taken care
of at the local level.
The money received
from the bogus refund checks - issued under names of different
taxpayers - was a scam that used the Additional Child Tax Credit,
which is paid by the federal government.
The defendants
- Tina T. Peleti and Rose Fao - updated tax returns to a certain
status by adding dependent information, resulting in these taxpayers
being apparently entitled to the Additional Child Tax Credit
(ACTC) and resulting in tax refund checks being automatically
generated by Treasury's computer system.
The defendants,
who are now behind bars for their forgery convictions, then cashed
the checks at a local store and they were able to do so even
though the checks weren't under their names.
The Treasury
Department launched an internal investigation after receiving
reports that two women, later identified to be the defendants,
were cashing checks that weren't under their names. The result
of the investigation was submitted to the police, which resulted
in charges filed against Peleti and Fao.
O'Brien said
American Samoa has been embarrassed enough by cases involving
local citizens prosecuted by the feds. He said fortunately, this
case didn't get much media attention in the mainland and that's
because ASG was able to act quickly before the feds decided what
to do with it.
Associate Justice
Lyle L. Richmond said it's heartwarming to hear a government
representative say that ASG is taking a serious look at these
types of cases.
He said the territory
has "adequate local resources" to handle these matters
and "it's a shame" to have to involve the federal government
to prosecute such cases.
"We hope
it keeps up," said Richmond.
The associate
justice also suggested, in case it has not already happened,
that Treasury conducts a serious review and improve internal
controls to reduce "temptations to do such crimes".
The tax scam
did prompt Treasury last year to implement added security measures
to ensure this doesn't happen again.
The High Court
yesterday ordered Peleti to pay $34,454.60 in restitution and
Fao $18,552.48.
The restitutions
are conditions of the defendants' five year probation. They were
each sentenced to seven years in jail for forgery, however, the
execution of the sentence has been suspended and they are each
placed on probation for five years.
Another condition
of their probation is for them to each serve 28 months in jail.
They are required to serve three months in jail and if they are
able to pay their respective restitutions within three months,
the Court will stay the balance of their detention period.
If they do not
pay the full amounts within three months, they will serve out
the full detention period. If at the time they are released from
jail that they have not paid the entire amounts, then they will
appear before the Court (three years from now) to explain why
they have not done so.
Richmond said
the defendants can be on work release granted that they are gainfully
employed, meaning they have jobs that pay taxes, social security,
etc.
Fao's husband
and Peleti's mother asked leniency from the Court on behalf of
the defendants.
Fao and Peleti
also apologized to the Court, their families, the government,
and their former employer, the Treasury Department, for the wrong
that they committed. They said they spent money that wasn't theirs,
and they have failed to live up to their duties that the department
trusted them to do.
Both women also
said they are willing to pay full restitution and to right the
wrong that they have done.
Richmond said
the Court needs to send a message not only for this case but
also to current government employees who have been placed in
positions of trust - do not be involved in deceitful crimes and
not expect dire consequences.
He said such
consequences go beyond the individual person; it brings embarrassment
to families and ruins relationships.
Fao was represented
by Assistant Public Defender Douglas Fiaui while Peleti was represented
by Assistant Public Defender Ruth Risch.
Richmond was
assisted on the judicial bench by Associate Judge Mamea.
Reach the
reporter at la@samoanews.com.
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