From Deseret News archives:
Suit on Navajo trust expected to drag on
For several months, the state has had four full-time accountants working to provide a detailed listing of how funds from the $150 million trust has been spent.
During a hearing in federal court Thursday, U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell was handed a very large binder as a sample of the accounting the state plans to present. Campbell was then told the binder was just one month's worth of accounting and that there is expected to be up to 100 more such binders when the accounting report is due on June 30.
Congress created the oil trust in 1933, requiring that 37.5 percent of royalties from gas and oil exploration on Navajo land be placed in the trust and administered by the state of Utah.
After there was evidence that the state had given money from the trust to organizations that embezzled it, a group of Navajos filed suit against the state, alleging mismanagement. The group is demanding an accounting of the funds in the trust.
Last year Campbell ordered an accounting of the trust by the state. How far back the state must go has been contested. State officials say they have documents dating back to about 1955. The 100 binders represent only five years' worth of transactions. An appeal pending before the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver is pending to determine just how far back the state must go.
During Thursday's hearing, Assistant Attorney General Philip Lott told the court that the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case with a similar issue pending before the 10th Circuit. Circuit judges have indicated they plan to wait for a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court before handing down its own decision in the Navajo Oil Trust case. The news could spell months of delay in the case.
Campbell said given the enormous amount of documentation being worked on by the state, she felt there was plenty of work to do in the coming months.
The sample given to the court Thursday details many fund allocations, from transfers to a Navajo education fund to a purchase of paint thinner.
Attorney Brian Barnard, representing the Navajos, asked if the state had confirmation that all purchases and allocations were appropriate under the trust's guidelines. Campbell said the state can only show where the money went. It will be up to the court to determine if it was appropriately used.
The statute governing the trust fund is supposed to sunset this year. Given the suit, state officials are asking Congress to set up a new disbursement system for the funds.
E-mail: gfattah@desnews.com
