Moylan advocates for government corruption division at AG’s office

Attorney general candidate Doug Moylan is calling for senators to fund a division of prosecutors at the Office of the Attorney General to go after government corruption.

In a hearing last week on a bill to provide the Office of Public Accountability a dedicated revenue source, Mr. Moylan asked senators to consider “maybe in addition to or in replacement of having an assistant attorney general sent over to the public auditor, the legislature consider creating and making statutory an office,” that will be dedicated to “government corruption, public integrity, public accountability.”

“I can guarantee you,” Mr. Moylan told senators, “that the attorney general will be working hand in hand with the Office of [Public Accountability] in order to fulfill the functions and duties that the senators may identify for that division.”

“When I was the attorney general, we created the government corruption division, which worked with the accountants of the [OPA], but most especially with the public auditor herself,” Mr. Moylan said, referencing his tenure as Guam’s first elected attorney general, and the tenure of Guam’s first elected public auditor, Doris Flores Brooks.

The duo indeed made their mark together, starting in 2003. Ms. Brooks’s audits of mismanagement were the impetus for Mr. Moylan’s prosecution of several high-level government officials.

“We saved the taxpayers a lot of money,” Mr. Moylan told senators.

The current attorney general – Leevin Camacho – has not prosecuted a single public corruption case since taking office nearly four years ago, despite audits from Public Auditor Benjamin Cruz that have shown evidence of corruption.

“I would support the idea since we already work together and would continue to work together if a government corruption division is established,” Mr. Cruz said of Mr. Moylan’s push for a government corruption division. “I have always been of the opinion that the OPA should not have a government corruption prosecution unit because the discretion to prosecute should remain with the OAG. The OPA should enforce its Findings and Recommendations using GAGAS and GASB rules.”

The hearing was to discuss legislation by Sens. Joanne Brown and Telo Taitague, Bill No. 302-36. The bill would continuously dedicate one quarter of one percent of the entire government of Guam budget to the operations of the OPA. It also will establish a salary scale for the auditors and professional staff of the OPA that is above competition with the autonomous agencies of the government.

“A truly independent public auditor requires the position to be an elected position and a reliable source of funding be provided,” language in the bill states.