Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga has appointed a new Territorial Auditor, Michael A. Edmonds and has submitted his name to the Fono for confirmation.
The Governor informed Fono leaders of the appointment in a July 24th letter.
Mr. Edmonds is a Certified Internal Auditor with more than 30 years of auditing experience. He has worked as an auditor for municipalities in California such as Sacramento, San Jose, Concord and Oakland. He was a contract performance auditor with the Territorial Audit Office from May 2012 to 2013.
Lemanu said Edmonds’ certification and experience reflected in his resume demonstrate he has the qualifications required by law to serve as Territorial Auditor.
The last US CPA to hold the Territorial Auditor position was Robert Dantini who quit in 2014, before his contract expired.
The office, which is in charge of auditing government operations, has been supervised by acting territorial auditors since then.
The last one, Tofa Sualauvi, who was appointed at the start of the Lemanu Talauega administration in 2021 resigned in April on the heels of a complaint by a female employee of TAO alleging sexual harassment.
Mori Faasisila has been Acting Territorial Auditor since Tofa’s resignation.
The law requires that the Territorial Auditor be a US Certified Public Accountant or internal auditor. In the last legislature, the Governor asked the Fono to change the law so that the requirement for a CPA is removed. The House approved the bill but Senators turned it down.
