The case of the Medicaid Office Television sets hasn’t gone away. It has become an active investigation by the Criminal Investigations division of the department of public Safety.
When we first asked the Chief of Customs, Elisara Pita Elisara, in early October about a tip that ice had been found in one of two TV sets that arrived on the September 27th Hawaiian Airlines flight, he told us he couldn’t comment as there was an investigation.
We sent him questions as to what the investigation found but he never responded.
The TV sets were ordered by the Medicaid office and according to Director Sandra King Young their supplier would usually ship them as unaccompanied cargo on Hawaiian Airlines.
But the two TV sets and boxes of teleconferencing equipment were arranged by the ASG Office in Honolulu to be assigned as luggage to a passenger on the September 27th flight.
That traveler was Sa Mavaega who heads the Maintenance and Engineering Division of LBJ Hospital. He says he was only informed of the arrangement when he and his wife were checking in at Honolulu Airport. Mavaega says he offered to bring the cargo as it belonged to ASG.
Our sources tell us a customs dog alerted near one of the boxes with the TV sets.
But according to Mavaega when the boxes were opened in his presence at the customs warehouse at the airport on the day he was released from quarantine, there was “nothing”.
He did say that one of the boxes looked like it was “compromised.” He never responded to our request to explain what he meant by “compromised.”
Early yesterday morning KHJ News sent questions to Lt Governor Talauega Eleasalo Ale regarding the case of the TV sets. He responded within a few hours.
“The matter was referred to the Police CID (Criminal Investigations Division) for further investigation and is considered an active investigation,” Talauega said?
He explained that The Customs Chief has preparing a report of his investigation which has been forwarded to the Police CID.
“Given that the matter is still under active investigation, it is unlikely this report will be available for public distribution,” said the Lt. Governor.
KHJ News had been told that all ASG cargo is not inspected by customs. We asked Talega if this was true and in light of the incident with the Medicaid TVs whether this practice will be changed.
“ASG Cargo arriving on Hawaiian Air or any other carrier is subject to the same inspection as other cargo arriving in American Samoa. The Customs Chief has confirmed to me that Customs continues to inspect all incoming ASG cargo,” he responded.
KHJ News pointed to a number of publicized incidents where drugs were found in mail through the post office, mail of the hospital, incoming cargo, during a police raid of a government facility, and others which have yet to resolved. Through calls and posts on talanei.com members of the public have expressed fears that the drug problem is getting worse and those responsible are not being caught and punished.
Talauega commented, “Governor Lemanu and I share your concern and disappointment at our inability to solve these cases as of yet. But we remain hopeful and, we continue to push our law enforcement leaders to pursue and seek resolution of these cases because the safety and future of our children is at stake.”
