Governor Lolo Matalasi Moliga has apologized to Senate President Gaoteote Tofau Palaie, admitting that “the fault is all mine alone”, concerning the appointment of the Human Resources Director Sonny L. Thompson to the Retirement board, without validating that he was a Fund member, in a letter dated Aug. 25, 2015, leaked to Samoa News.

In the letter, Lolo apologizes “vehemently” for any oversight on his part regarding the appointment of the director of the DHR as a board member of the ASGERF, while “assuming that he was a member of the fund at the time of his appointment to the board.”

The letter was briefly mentioned by the the Senate President last week during a Senate session, but he only noted it as having received Thompson’s pay stub, not that it was attached to a letter of apology from the governor.

The letter, obtained by Samoa News, indicates that a copy of Thompson’s check stub certifying that he’s a member of the ASGERF was included.

Samoa News notes that the non-binding Senate resolution outlining that ASGERF Board member Sonny L. Thompson was not an active Fund member when he was approved to sit on the board—and calling for the governor to remove him —was passed nine days after Gaoteote received the governor’s apology.

In the letter, Lolo admits that he had assumed that Thompson was a member of the Retirement Fund based on past practices of directors of agencies being members. “I failed my responsibility to validate the accuracy of the information facilitating full compliance with the governing statute,” he writes.

“The fault is all mine alone, for assuming that the Director of the Department of Human Resources was a member of the fund when the appointment was made.”

Gov. Lolo said that it was necessary for him to ensure that the person overseeing all government employees be a member of the board.

He then notes,“I hope with certification of the membership of the Director of Human Resources in the American Samoa Government Employees Retirement Fund, the confirmation process for the nomination to replace High Chief Fanene on the ASGERF Board will move forward.”

Last week, ‘the nomination to replace High Chief Fanene’ with businessman Tony Togiai was fully confirmed by the Senate, unanimously, on Thursday, Sept 3, right after the Senate had passed the non-binding Senate resolution pertaining to Thompson.

The House also approved Togiai’s nomination unanimously on the same day as the Senate.

Togiai had gone through a House confirmation hearing three weeks ago and the Senate two weeks ago, but confirmation votes were held up in both chambers while the issue pertaining to Thompson was being reviewed.