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| Saipan 80 MW Power Plant OPA denies CUC's request to amend earlier decisions (October 29, 1998) - OPA, in its recent decision (BP-A016.2) released on October 23, 1998, denied CUC's motion to delete and exclude reference to a memorandum cited in a previous Public Auditor decision on the 80 MW power plant project. CUC argued that the memorandum which was prepared by the Acting Power Division Manager is covered by the "attorney-client privilege" and/or by the "deliberative process or executive privilege." OPA, however, found that the subject memorandum was nothing more than a communication between one member of the selection committee and the other three, and that nothing in the subject memorandum asked for a legal advice. OPA found that, in submitting the documents to OPA for its review, CUC's legal counsel made no admonishment or reservation about any of the documents provided, and claimed no privilege. With regard to CUC's claim of executive privilege, the decision ruled that the memorandum was disclosed well after relevant decisions were made by the CUC, and cannot be said to have in any way affected decisions which had already been made. The above reconsideration request was the second to be filed by CUC from a previous OPA appeal decision pertaining to the 80 MW power plant project. Because current CUC Regulations do not provide for further proceedings after a first reconsideration request, OPA held that it was treating CUC's motion as a request for clarification for the public interest.
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