Editorial: Tell the truth to the special prosecutor

Redemption is not as hard as some may believe, especially when guilt weighs heavy, or even resentment for society ostracizing you for taking part in something dishonest. And, while society wouldn’t be wrong to prosecute dishonesty in the court of public opinion, society also is very forgiving and embracing, when you step out of the darkness and into the light.

I write from personal experience.

I once was complicit in corruption. I knew about the rigging of an annual multi-million dollar contract, and did nothing to stop it. I did not report it, at the time it was happening. In fact, in my role as chief of communications for a former Guam administration, I led the false narrative that the contract was a good deal.

Only after that administration had wronged me, and my back was against a wall, did I decide to do what I always (before that time) thought to be ‘disloyal.’ I reported the corruption (and other corrupt acts) to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. And I even started this thing called Kandit so I could tell everyone about it.

Redemption.

And most Guamanians became supportive. Encouraging. The common line I was told was they knew the corruption was happening, but they never heard it admitted from someone from the inside.

As attorney Jim Kingman, the special prosecutor in the CNMI government’s corruption case against former Gov. Ralph Torres,  seeks justice on behalf of the Commonwealth, there is a real opportunity here for the people who knew about and even benefitted from Mr. Torres’s corruption to walk out from the dark.

Ralph Torres did not succeed by himself in the alleged criminal conspiracy with the casino to defraud the Commonwealth and its landowners, and to launder what is believed to be billions of dollars. He wasn’t alone in currying special favor with the Commonwealth Utilities Commission and the Department of Finance to provide himself hundreds of thousands of dollars in utilities services that profited his family’s piggery business. He did not procure illegal first class travel and reimbursements for personal expenses on his own.

The obvious criminal conspiracy that became the BOOST program was not simply a Ralph Torres production. The yet-to-be-audited suspicions of mass cronyism in the award of federally-funded contracts was not a lonely conspiracy. The missing cars, furniture, equipment, documents, services for which there is no verification of render…

People know. People were involved.

If you are one of these people, say something. Ask for immunity, and say something. Ask for forgiveness, and say something.

No one is asking you to be disloyal to anything. Mr. Kingman is looking for the truth. Your country is asking you to tell the truth. They are asking you to be loyal to the Commonwealth. They are asking you to kneel to nothing but the truth, and to commend harmony to the Commonwealth and its people by doing your part to achieve criminal justice.

Because no one should be treated better than you in the eyes of the law. No one – not even a governor – should be above justice and accountability. No one should take your earnings, and devalue your hard work, and get away with it. But, everyone who tells the truth – even against his perceived self-interest – should be held up high. They should be celebrated for stepping into the light. You will be redeemed.