The former Executive Director of the Retirement Fund, Luatua Filisouaiga Taafua, appeared before the District Court this morning on more than 20 criminal charges.
Though a warrant for his arrest was issued yesterday, Luatua came to court this morning on his own.
Attorney Gwen Tauiliili Langkilde was in court to represent him while Deputy Attorney General Mitzie Jessop Taase appeared on behalf of the government.
Efforts to obtain court affidavits which detail the charges against Luatua were not successful as of news time.
Bail for the defendant was set at $100,000.
It’s been about two months since the Commissioner of Public Safety forwarded the investigation report of a criminal probe by DPS on the former head of the Retirement Fund, to the Attorney General’s Office.
Just last week when KHJ News inquired about the status of Luatua’a case, Attorney General Talauega Eleasalo Ale said that the case will be prosecuted very soon and “it’s not a question of if but when.”
Aside from the DPS investigation report, a forensic auditor from Utah carried out a separate probe of allegations surrounding spending by Luatua of Retirement Fund money.
The audit report found evidence that Luatua misappropriated about $112,000 that belonged to the Fund for his personal use.
Luatua had been placed on leave with pay for several months while the investigation was in progress and in January the Retirement Fund Board moved to terminate his services.
