KOROR, PALAU – On or about February 2, 2023, the Office of the Special Prosecutor on behalf of the Republic filed a motion for an order to show cause regarding Defendant, Tommy E. Remengesau, Jr., (Remengesau, Jr.) in Criminal Case No. 09-092. The motion requests another hearing as to why Defendant’s nonpayment of fines in accordance with the Court-ordered payment plan entered August 21, 2021, should not be treated as contumacious (stubbornly or willfully disobedient to authority). This is the third time the OSP requested a show cause hearing against Remengesau, Jr. in this matter.
In 2009, Remengesau, Jr. was convicted of two Ethics Code violations for having failed to properly disclose his interest in property in 2002 and 2003. His convictions were upheld by the Appellate Division of the Palau Supreme Court on March 30, 2011. Between that time and the order entered August 21, 2021, Defendant still owed $144,750 of the original $156,400 fine. Although ten years passed, eight of them while he was President of the Republic, the Court determined after the previous show cause hearing held August 16, 2021, that because he had not been put on supervised probation nor given a payment plan, the Court could not find Remengesau, Jr. in violation of any of the provisions of the sentence.
Given his ability to pay and to assure future timely payments to the Republic, Presiding Justice Kathleen M. Salii ordered Remengesau, Jr. to pay the complete fine by August 13, 2025, clarifying her order by stating: “payments shall be made on a monthly basis in installments of not less than $3,020.00 a month payable on the 20th of each month to the Clerk of Court.” As of the date of the Republic’s second show cause request, Defendant was alleged to be $21,820 behind on his payment plan.
The Court granted Republic’s motion, scheduling a show cause hearing for November 8, 2022. However, after being served with notice of the show cause hearing for November 8, 2022, Remengesau, Jr. back paid the amount he was in arrears, i.e., $21,820, and asked the Court to dismiss the hearing set for the matter on November 8, 2022, arguing in his Motion for Vacation of Hearing that there was no longer a need to proceed with the hearing. The Court vacated the hearing.
Now the Court granted OSP’s third Motion for an Order to Show Cause for Remengesau, Jr.’s failure to make the minimum payments since December 2022 as previously ordered by the Court. A new hearing is scheduled for March 3, 2023, at 1:30 p.m., in Courtroom 101.
Related documents available for download:
ROP v. Remengesau – Criminal Case No. 09-092 – Order to Show Cause