Criminal charges have once again been filed against former governor Ellender Ngirameketii, and are similar to the charges he was convicted of in October 2021.
According to information from the Office of Special Prosecutor Dawn Cripps, Mr. Ngirameketii is charged with 2 counts of Misconduct in Public Office (each a felony charge), 2 counts of Code of Ethics violations, 2 counts of Tampering with Government Records, and 2 counts of Unified Tax Act violations.
The charges allege that Ngirameketii did not pay taxes on the income he received for his company, Okal Security ($170,000 received in August of 2019), as well as the employee and employer’s contribution to the Social Security Administration.
Furthermore, to get the payments from the government, Ngirameketii provided “proof” to the National Treasury and Bureau of Public Works showing that he had paid the Social Security contributions for the employees of Okal Security. According to OSP, after several inquiries with the Social Security Administration, it was revealed that Ngirameketii had not paid contributions to SSA for the employees of Okal Security. In addition, records from the Bureau of Tax & Revenue showed that he did not pay any taxes for the $170,000 income his company received.
The “proofs” provided were allegedly false or contained false information, which led to the charges of Tampering with Government Records.
The charging documents also state that Mr. Ngirameketii’s Financial Disclosure Statements (filed at Ethics Commission in 2020) claimed he earned between $1,000 to $50,000, while records show he earned more than this amount, including the final payment of his government contract of $56,666.
Records from the Bureau of National Treasury also showed that he did not pay gross income tax on the income he received in 2019.
Ngirameketii was convicted back in July of 2021 on similar charges of failure to pay taxes and to make employer and employee social security contributions, Misconduct in Public Office, Code of Ethics violations, and Unified Tax Act violations. These violations cover the years between 2014 and 2018. He was sentenced to pay over half a million dollars in fines and received a 5-year jail sentence, which was suspended. The recent charges filed cover 2018 and 2019.