HILARY HOSIA, GIFF JOHNSON
Investigators from the office of the Auditor General confiscated office equipment and reviewed documents during a court-approved search of an executive office at the College of Marshall Islands Tuesday. The team had police escort from Marshall Islands Police Department while they conducted their investigation at the administration wing of the college.
The action was focused on the office of CMI Executive Vice President William Reiner, who was placed on administrative leave last October in a battle with Reiher over his future at the college. The Auditor’s team confiscated a computer and a printer from the office Tuesday.
CMI, which has been unable to complete its own college-wide audits in timely fashion, announced January 29 that it was placing Reiher on leave without pay for three months “to allow time for a special audit and investigation to take place.” Reiher had been placed on leave with pay last October.
The leave without pay was extended last Thursday for an additional two months because the “special audit and external investigation…is still ongoing,” Interim CMI President Dr. Elizabeth Switaj told Reiher in an April 25 letter.
On Monday this week, Reiher through his attorney John Masek filed a “breach of contract” lawsuit against the college in the High Court. Tuesday his office was raided.
The dispute centers around a 2020 CMI Board of Regents resolution that established “The Presidential Succession Plan” by creating an “Executive” Vice President position as a presidential training position, and naming Reiher as the college’s first Executive VP. Reiher is also named as the successor to the late Dr. Irene Taafaki in both the succession plan and his contract with CMI.
On January 18, Switaj issued a two-page letter to Reiher detailing four allegations claiming “certain actions taken by you which appear in violation of the Human Resources Handbook and Marshall Islands law.” She noted that the college was “engaging the Auditor General to perform a special audit concerning your actions.”
The Interim President said “CMI has enough evidence to date to terminate your employment,” but also offered Reiher the opportunity to resign rather than be terminated.
On January 25, Reiher, through Masek, responded by dismissing CMI’s allegations as “either so minor as to be inconsequential or a misstatement of the actual facts.” Masek added that CMI’s “alleged ‘grounds’ provide a shallow excuse for CMI’s willful breach of its contractual obligations owed to Mr. Reiher.”
The Attorney General had applied to the High Court late Monday afternoon for a search warrant. The High Court approved the government’s request and late Tuesday morning, armed with the court-approved warrant, Auditor General investigators supported by uniformed MIPD officers descended on the Uliga Campus to commence their planned action.
Team leader and Auditor General Chief Investigator Jaston Anjain was seen working on his computer at the CMI Board Conference Room after visiting Reiher’s office.
The visit with police presence Tuesday did not cause a ruckus as work at the college seemed to flow normally, which jibes with CMI administration requesting Auditor General action related to Reiher. While Tuesday’s Auditor General investigation was in progress, CMI staff were in zoom meetings and answering phones and tending to their cubicles at their respective stations in both the first and second story of the administration wing.