Attorney Peter Santos is calling on the public auditor to investigate Douglas Moylan on the heels of the governor’s accusations of nepotism and corruption at the Office of the Attorney General of Guam. Mr. Santos made the comments on the Patti Arroyo Show on Wave 105.1 FM today. While Lou Leon Guerrero has escalated this discussion in the public sphere, it was Mr. Santos who pioneered the public accusations that Mr. Moylan has committed misconduct by, among other things, hiring both his brother and his fiancee in high-level, high-paying jobs at the OAG.
And now Public Auditor Benjamin Cruz is considering an investigation, though bracing for possible retaliation by the AG. Mr. Cruz’s audits receive legal recourse through the criminal justice system via only one local law enforcement channel: The Office of the Attorney General of Guam.
“We have been asked to conduct an audit,” Mr. Cruz said. “We initially did not think there was a need to but we may have to reconsider. I hate to have an audit affect our working relationship but may have to do it.”
In a four-page demand for documents under the Freedom of Information Act, the governor’s legal counsel on January 31 requested 31 sets of public records dealing with the hiring of Mr. Moylan’s brother Scott Moylan, the AG’s fiancee Sheenalyn Hawkins, and records related to the financial practices and decisions at the OAG. The request follows two years of public and private speculation by officials, attorneys, and people in the general public about the operations of the OAG since Mr. Moylan took office in January 2023. Mr. Santos began those discussions even before the attorney general took office, sounding the alarm early on about allegations of corruption, misconduct, and incompetence.
While Mr. Santos was the first to call these matters into question, other attorneys and officials have both privately and publicly – to now include the governor – questioned both the sanity and competence of the island’s chief local law enforcement officer.
“As the chief executive officer of the government of Guam, charged with ensuring the enforcement of Guam law, Governor Leon Guerrero cannot sit by while the attorney general engages in conduct that raises legitimate concerns he is violating the law,” a news release from the governor’s office states. “Because the attorney general cannot investigate and prosecute his own illegal acts, it falls to the governor to ensure he is held to account. The attorney general is not above the law. He should be investigated when his actions raise legal red flags. And if he is found to have committed a crime, he should be prosecuted and punished.”
Mr. Moylan, in a news release responding to the governor’s office statement, said the attack on him is personal and meant to distract from allegations of corruption against the governor and her administration.
“The governor’s release simply distracts the public from several serious legal issues that have brought this people’s elected law enforcement law firm at odds with the governor on numerous civil and criminal investigations and issues affecting all our people’s welfare, including the illegal use of ARP funds, the governor’s inability to help the poor and homeless, as well as the overall deteriorating conditions in healthcare, education and public safety,” Mr. Moylan said.
“The governor is now attacking persons close to me,” Mr. Moylan continued in his office’s defense. “She is destroying their reputations with falsehoods. Her office’s comments defame these two persons by saying that I hired them. This is factually and patently untrue, subjecting them to a defamation lawsuit. This fact can be clearly ascertained in the government records.”
The attorney general provided the media with documents showing his fiancee and brother’s direct hiring by chief deputy attorney general Joseph Guthrie.
“The attorney general has publicly addressed allegations of impropriety regarding his hiring practices, but his excuses do not pass the smell test,” Adelup director of communications Krystal Paco-San Agustin said. “The AG needs to put his money where his mouth is, provide documentation for his questionable hiring and procurements, and give our people the answers they need to judge these transactions for themselves.”
