The former director of American Samoa's Education Department has been charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, according to charges filed at the federal court in Honolulu.
Sili Sataua is accused of rigging contracts in exchange for US$6,000 US dollars and another US$3,000 worth of construction work at his residence in Fagasa.
Sataua and others were involved in a conspiracy from 1999 to July 2003 that included Sataua receiving money for bypassing the department rules on contracts for shelves, desks, furniture and other materials, the charges alleges.
The contracts were awarded to companies that included Samoa Woods Products, owned by former chief procurment officer, Tafua Fa'au Seumanutafa, is was also charged early this year for defrauding the United States, under the same scheme.
Sataua is also accused of approving requests for food andgoods from the school lunch warehouse, knowing that they would be used for a funeral, and used his position to take food from the school lunch program for his own use
