Full Transcript of CNN Report on Missing Federal Funds in American Samoa

[picapp src=”0/a/1/0/Clean_Up_Continues_a73c.jpg?adImageId=7110631&imageId=6701050″ width=”500″ height=”354″ /]

PAGO PAGO, AMERICAN SAMOA – OCTOBER 03: People work to clear the rubble near the village of Nuan Seetaga following the 8.3 magnitude strong earthquake which struck on Tuesday, on October 3, 2009 in Pago Pago, American Samoa. The quake triggered a tsunami wave up to 1.5 metres across areas of the island, with the official death toll in Samoa standing at 149. A further quake measuring 6.3 struck 85 kilometres south-east of Tonga, but no tsunami warning or additional casualties have been reported as yet. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)

CNN News Full Transcript

CHETRY: You know millions of dollars in US aid is missing. It was originally sent to American Samoa for tsunami relief. Remember there was that devastating tsunami just in September. But our Drew Griffin, of our CNN investigations unit, has an exclusive report that may surprise you. That’s coming up. 23 minutes after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty-five minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. We have a CNN exclusive now. When a devastating tsunami hit American Samoa at the end of September, the U.S. rushed in to help. The south pacific island has been a US territory for more than a century, so Washington was quick to send millions in aid and emergency equipment using your tax dollars. But as Drew Griffin of CNN’s special investigations unit found out, very little of that money is actually reaching its intended target. Drew joins us now with more on this investigation. Yesterday, you talked a little bit about the millions that went to get those tsunami predictors that never made it there either.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Kiran, the tsunami warning sirens, which weren’t in place for this tsunami, even though they were supposed to be. You know what’s interesting about this story? The people in American Samoa were practically begging us to tell it to you, because for years this territory has been on the receiving end of literally billions of dollars in federal money, tax dollars, and over and over, we heard the same thing from the people who lived there. Where is it?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[picapp src=”9/b/8/5/Clean_Up_Continues_0825.jpg?adImageId=7110641&imageId=6701051″ width=”500″ height=”333″ /]

GRIFFIN: In village after village, recovery in American Samoa is a do-it-yourself operation. On this day, a church group has come to hand out water. Workers at a fish cannery are clearing debris. College students clean clogged streams. For most of those devastated by the tsunami waves, like this boy picking through rubble in search of furniture, the cleanup and recovery will be purely self-help. The government of this island of just 65,000 people seems to be absent.

WILLIE TANU, SAMOAN VILLAGER: I don’t know what happened to the government. They said they were going to be here pretty soon, but not even coming.

GRIFFIN: It’s been a couple of weeks.

TANU: Yes.

GRIFFIN: And they haven’t showed up?

TANU: Nope.

HEINRICH TAVAI, SAMOAN VILLAGER: The government gets a lot of money from the US federal government. Every year, they get millions and millions of dollars. As you see, we look like a third world country when we should be looking more like a US territory.

A.E. PULU, SAMOAN VILLAGER: And this is my old village.

GRIFFIN: A.E. Pulu is a former lawmaker here. He points to an area where a federal grant was to build a gym. Where’s that?

PULU: Nothing.

GRIFFIN: It’s not here.

PULU: Not here.

GRIFFIN: A creek that had a $2.9 million grant for upgrades. It never happened. The money, he says, just seems to vanish. Remember, Samoa is an American territory, so we’re talking about your money. And while there have been some federal investigations, many government agencies that send money here, he says, don’t seem to care. PULU: They need to come down and look, make sure that — follow-up the report.

GRIFFIN: This is you — you were a member of this government and you are telling the federal government, you need to come here and look at where you’re throwing money.

PULU: Exactly right.

GRIFFIN: Because it sounds like you’re telling me they’re throwing it away.

PULU: Well, that’s what I’m saying.

GRIFFIN: The one person who should know where the money is going is the person who takes much of the credit for getting it here. The Web site of Samoa’s longtime congressional delegate, Eni Faleomavaega, is filled with notices of government grants he has won for this tiny island. But he told us his responsibility doesn’t include making sure it’s spent correctly.

ENI FALEOMAVAEGA, AMERICAN SAMOA DELEGATE TO CONGRESS: I’m very much aware of the fact that, yes, we do have a lot of federal funds that come here in the territory. And I make no excuses it’s the American taxpayers’ money, the public’s entitled to know how this money should have been spent or should be spending.

[picapp src=”b/5/3/d/International_Fund_For_dfea.jpg?adImageId=7110618&imageId=4824244″ width=”396″ height=”594″ /]

GRIFFIN: And in the meantime, you are about to send even more. $24 million in emergency housing funds just announced and, yes, even stimulus money for an island of just 65,000 people. Among the $68 million in stimulus funds heading to this island, $7.4 million from the Department of Energy to develop, among other things, solar power, on an island that receives 200 inches of rainfall a year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: The money, Kiran, just seems to evaporate. That’s the only thing evaporating on that island. So what is happening? Number one, the federal investigators are thousands of miles away in Washington and literally told us on background that it’s too far to keep track of this money. They’d have to send too many people there, would take too long. Also, what American Samoa does is it basically survives on federal tax dollars. The big prize is to get a government job. Which our sources tell us, are handed out as a way to control the political power there. There are more than 6,000 government workers on American Samoa getting a tax-funded paycheck. But as we saw in the aftermath of this tsunami, we just didn’t see any of those government workers working — Kiran.

CHETRY: As a result of your reporting, is anything going to change?

GRIFFIN: It’s rattled a lot of cages down on American Samoa. The FBI, as we reported yesterday, has opened up an investigation into where that tsunami warning system money is going. But I think internally there’s a lot of people now in American Samoa beginning to talk about this, at least question, where was the money for that gym? Where are the moneys to clean up that creek, you know, trying to follow their own money if these federal investigators in Washington, these agencies that hand out the money aren’t going to do it for themselves.

CHETRY: Drew Griffin, some great reporting there. Thank you.

---