Sunia Charged With Fraud

American Samoa

The controversial Congressman steps down as his trial looms.

SAYING “an elected official who sells his office for personal and political gain not only disgraces himself, but betrays the public trust,”

United States Attorney for the District of Columbia Joseph diGenova filed papers in the US District Court on July 27 charging American Samoan Congressman Fofo Sunia and his chief aide, Matthew luli, with conspiring to defraud the US of more than SUS 130,000 “in an elaborate scheme that falsely claimed a series of ghost employees” on Sunia’s payroll.

The prosecutor named 14 individuals listed as paid members of Sunia’s staff between 1983 and 1986 but unaware that paycheques were being issued in their names, being cashed without their knowledge and then being deposited in Sunia’s personal or campaign accounts to be “used to entertain Sunia’s constituents and staff members, pay election campaign expenses, furnish personal air travel for Sunia and his family, make home purchase and car loan payments.”

The plot began to unravel as long ago as early 1985, when a former Sunia staff member matched his end-of-year (1984) federal earnings report against his payroll receipts (employers are required to fur nish employees with a statement indicat ing the income being reported to the Federal Government for tax purposes).

Thfe former Sunia staffer, Roger Hazell, said he was being asked to pay tax on money he had never received.

US agents visited Pago Pago in Decem ber 1986 to investigate Hazell’s charges: federal interest was triggered when Hazell obtained photocopies of cheques he had received and noted the endorsements were not his signatures. The Federal prosecutor says Sunia and luli fraudently cashed 76 paycheques over the three- and-a-half-year period; some of the 14 ghost employees, like Hazell, had been on Sunia’s staff at one time or another, but none were aware their names were being used to collect federal funds illegally.

Earlier this year Sunia attempted to cut

a deal with the US attorney to permit the Congressman to resign in exchange for the charges being dropped. The prosecutor apparently refused, but recently lull and Sunia appear to have struck a bargain for charges to be reduced to a single felony count for each in exchange for guilty pleas, The Court could sentence both of them to as much as five years in prison, with fines of up to $U5250,000.

One of the more bizarre aspects of the case is the way Sunia and luli handled it in public. Despite rumours of irregulari ties that have appeared in print, Sunia and luli have gone about their business as if nothing were wrong. luli began co-oper ating with the Government some 18 months ago, yet remained on Sunia’s staff: Sunia was also a “superdelegate” to the Democratic Convention in Atlanta, The first public indication by Sunia that all was not well came days before the Con vention opened, when he issued a state ment saying he would retire from Congress, citing the investigation as the reason. □