The American Samoa Government recently received another dividend payment from the American Samoa Hawaii Cable, the company that manages the undersea fiber optic cable connecting the two Samoas and Hawaii.
This was confirmed by Attorney General Talauega Eleasalo Ale.
He said a check of $295,774 was delivered to him, ASG’s dividend payment for its investment in ASH Cable.
ASG also received a check of $591,547 to pay Blue Sky parent company Elandia’s tax liability for 2017.
The tax payment for Elandia was delivered to the Tax Office, said the AG.
This is the second dividend that ASG has received since ASH Cable was formed .
Last December the company paid its first dividend of $550,000 to ASG.
ASG invested $9 million in ASH Cable and owns a third of the company while Elandia is the majority shareholder.
At a Senate Budget and Appropriations hearing in February, TreasurerUeligitone Tonumaipe’a testified that the ASH Cable dividend from December was deposited in a special trust account with the Territorial Bank of American Samoa and the only signors of the account are the governor and the treasurer.
According to Tonumaipe’a the only time this account is used is when there’s a cash crisis.
