For retiree Sapuro Rayphand, the only question of whether or not the attorneys’ fees are excessive will be decided by the court based on the points of legal authorities presented by the attorneys for the defendant and plaintiff. But in his personal view, the fees being demanded by Johnson’s lawyers are reasonable. “Personally, I feel the attorneys’ fees are reasonable and should be paid by the CNMI government and not by the Fund. If the government cannot do so, then the government should sell its assets, including but not limited to government real property,” he said yesterday. Rayphand acknowledged that the “CNMI is broke and it is incapable to settle it accounts and therefore cannot fully pay our pensions.” “It is an established fact that the government has consistently failed to show good faith efforts to pay its debts, until or unless forced to do so by multiple lawsuits. In its effort to avoid its legal obligation, constitutional, contractual, fiduciary duty and responsibility, the CNMI wasted over millions of dollars to file for Chapter 11 to avoid paying anything to the [Retirement Fund]. What assurance do we have that it will be different in the future? This pattern of lying and false promises, besides failure to do the right thing, is also well established and will continue to be so long as we have the same people in the offices. Nothing will be different,” said Rayphand. According to Rayphand, a former senator testified in court that the CNMI Legislature had never included appropriation bills to pay for the Fund, even though the issue was repeatedly discussed in the appropriation committee. “This is a horrifying scenario that could happen and so I may never receive the remaining 25 percent in the immediate future because there is no money now or will there be any in the immediate future. Deferment is the popular euphemism for reduction for pension, which is unconstitutional, pursuant to Article 3 Section 20. And so, how could this illegal agreement be enforceable? In my humble, this agreement is void ab initio, thus unenforceable,” he added.
Posted on: Wed, 11 Sep 2013 16:34:28 +0000
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