Thursday, August 23, 2012OPA counsel calls Buckingham a...

Thursday, August 23, 2012


OPA counsel calls Buckingham a fugitive


By Ferdie de la Torre
Reporter
Office of Public Auditor legal counsel George Hasselback yesterday called former attorney general Edward T. Buckingham a fugitive from justice.

At the scheduled hearing for Buckingham's motion to quash the $50,000 bench warrant, Hasselback apologized to the court of his late filing yesterday of pleadings in which he brought the fugitive from justice issue.

Superior Court Associate Judge David A. Wiseman allowed defense attorney Michael N. Evangelista until Tuesday, Aug. 28, to respond to the issue.

Hasselback said considering that Buckingham was already served with the summons and he did not appear in court he is now a fugitive.

Hasselback said Buckingham lacks standing to move to quash the bench warrant because he failed to recognize the court's jurisdiction.

The OPA counsel said the former AG needs to come back to Saipan and clear this fugitive status.

“The cases that I cited they have applied in a situation where a person is represented by counsel,” Hassselback said.

Evangelista said Buckingham is absent from the CNMI court's jurisdiction, but is not fleeing the jurisdiction

Evangelista said his client left the CNMI for medical reasons, but actively made arrangement for his representation in court.

The defense lawyer reiterated that Buckingham had asked the counsel (assistant attorney general Gilbert Birnbrich) to inform the court that he was willing to appear telephonically at the hearing.

Evangelista said the counsel apparently forgot to inform the court.

“My client is not a fugitive,” he pointed out.

Buckingham recently filed in court, under seal, his voluminous medical records.

The medical records, said to consist of over 80 pages, are filed in support of Buckingham's motion to quash the $50,000 bench warrant issued for his arrest.

Buckingham cited family reasons in his first resignation.

An FBI special agent served Buckingham with the penal summons at the airport shortly after he and his wife left Saipan at 6am Delta flight to Narita, Japan last August 4.

OPA filed seven criminal misdemeanor charges against Buckingham.

this is the bloke that signed off on the diesel power deal that blindsided kuth. hmmmmmmm.