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Pohnpei’s Office of the Attorney General has filed a claim against four former employees of Pohnpei State. The state is seeking to recover financial damages for payments for unauthorized overtime in the amount that the claims say the State will prove in court. The claim is based on audit findings on Pohnpei’s payroll system for fiscal years 2011 and 2012, conducted by the Pohnpei Office of the Public Auditor in 2013. Its finding and subsequent compliance investigation support was handed over to the Attorney General’s Office but it failed to act at that time.

Congresswoman Aumua Amata introduced legislation on Tuesday the American Samoa Jobs Protection and Expansion Act, which will do a great deal to assist American Samoa’s ability to retain and attract new businesses to the territory. “For too long, the federal government has placed American Samoa on the same economic playing field as the states, which lie halfway across the vast Pacific Ocean. This has caused many issues regarding the territory’s ability to attract new investment in the island, and has in fact caused many businesses to leave,” stated Amata.

Responsibility for compliance with safe shipping standards lies with flagging country

PORT VILA, Vanuatu (Vanuatu Daily Post, June 22, 2017) – The Paris MoU Committee has adopted new performance lists for flags, moving Palau and Vanuatu to the Black List from the Grey List.

Additionally, the Republic of Korea, which last year was on the White List, was moved to the Grey List, while Saint Vincent and the Grenadines moved from the Black List to the Grey List.

The new performance lists, which were adopted following the approval of the 2016 inspection results at Paris MoU’s 50th meeting in May, will take effect from July 1, 2017.

[PIR editor's note: The Paris MoU Committee is an organization dedicated to safe shipping in the North Atlantic which inspects foreign-flagged vessels for seaworthiness....

Colombian national, Aiden Alec Hurtado has been found guilty and convicted of one count of unlawful importation of drugs following a retrial. Hurtado appeared before Justice Thushara Rajasinghe at the High Court in Suva this afternoon. He had unlawfully imported 20.5 kilograms of illicit drugs namely cocaine when he arrived in the country on February 7, 2014.