The former Chief Financial Officer of the LBJ Hospital, Emau Amosa, says that there was nothing untoward about transactions between the hospital and a company that his wife and children own; which was doing business with the hospital, long before he became CFO.
Further, it was not him who made the orders from the company, Samoa Commercial Printing, but rather heads of divisions and supervisors of various divisions of the hospital.
Amosa was responding to questions from KHJ news regarding a file, which was delivered to KHJ News, Samoa News and KVZK-TV, last Friday. The file contains a spreadsheet which lists payments made to the printing company from 2011 through the first two months of 2023, totaling $1.4 million. There are also copies of checks from the American Samoa Medical Center General Account to the company from January 2021 to October 2021, as well as Articles of Incorporation for Tasi Incorporated, dating back to August 11, 1998, which names Amosa as the President, Fanuaea Leiataua as Vice President and Louisa Amosa as Secretary/Treasurer. Tasi Inc. is purported to be the parent company of Samoa Commercial Printing, formerly doing business as Samoa Post.
The file also contained a copy of one purchase order dated July 21, 2022 in the value of $5,000, and it’s for 5,000 discharge order forms at $1 a unit.
There’s also an issue form, dated July 25, 2022, from the LBJ Procurement Department for the same order. And a copy of an Electronic Form Transfer from the Territorial Bank of American Samoa to Samoa Commercial Printing, dated May 27, 2022, of $4,100 for diabetic record two-sided receipt books and gynecology card receipts.
The Director of Homeland Security Samana Semo Veavea has confirmed that the Board of Directors of the LBJ Hospital has requested a criminal investigation of the transactions between the LBJ Hospital and Samoa Commercial Printing. The allegation is that Amosa, while CFO, was making payments to a company that he owned and there was no bidding for the printing services.
KHJ News sent questions to the Board of Directors of LBJ Hospital to shed more light on what the $1.4 million payments to the company were for, the quantities of the products ordered, who approved the orders and payments, and the LBJ policy on procurement. Vice Chair Dr. Jean Anderson said, Sunday, that she is working on responses with the LBJ attorney.
We also sent questions to Amosa, which he replied to last night.
He said, “Samoa Commercial Printing, is a small business owned and operated by my children and my wife. It is just like any other small business. As far as I am concerned, there is no law against a small business doing business with its own government, especially when the government is the biggest employer in the territory even if a relative of the owner is working for the government.
“In fact,” he said, “The government encouraged the practice of helping small businesses to grow. I cannot imagine how many local businesses which have a very close relative working for the Government, yet have a business which provides a service to the government. Samoa Commercial Printing has been and still doing business with the hospital, as well as many other departments of ASG. They provide a service, and the hospital pays them. As simple as that.”
Referring to the spreadsheet in the file delivered to the media, he said that most of the trading is below $10,000 a month, which is “a very insignificant amount compared to the hospital’s monthly disbursement of $4-$5 million.”
Amosa stated, “So if the board wants to stop the hospital from doing business with any vendor, they should issue a notice to forbid the hospital from doing any business with any vendor. A notice must be publicized in the media.”
