Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA —  Since taking over leadership of the American Samoa Government, Gov. Lolo Matalasi Moliga says he has not been informed of any board meetings of the American Samoa Hawaii Cable LLC (ASH-Cable) — in which ASG is a 33% minority owner.

This was shared by the governor in an Oct. 23rd letter to Van Fong, chief executive officer of Amalgamated Telecom Holdings, (ATH) Inc., the majority shareholder of ASH-Cable, and owner of Bluesky Pacific Group including Bluesky American Samoa.

The governor’s letter centers on appointing his representative to the ASH-Cable board of directors. “Internal changes implemented within my Administration have compelled changing my representative on the ASH-Cable board,” Lolo wrote.

And since ATH’s assumption of majority ownership shares in ASH-Cable assets, “we have not heard or received any financial information on the ASH-Cable operation,” said the governor, who noted that since being at the helm of ASG leadership, the government has not been informed of any board meetings in the last 7 years.

According to Lolo, it’s “rather unfortunate” that Toleafoa Douglas Creevey’s tenure as ASH Cable chief executive officer “has lapsed and we thank him and appreciate very much his efforts and continued attempts to fashion a “win win” solution for American Samoa.”

Fong was informed that the American Samoa TeleCommunication Authority’s CEO has been working at arms length with Toleafoa to address “our arrears” to ASH Cable. And Lolo is awaiting the conclusion of these negotiations.

 “As part owner of ASH-Cable, it behooves us to collaborate on how we can maximize ASH-Cable’s returns on our collective investments and extending the life of ASH-Cable,” Lolo wrote to Fong.

Accordingly, Lolo appointed local businessman Solip Hong as his representative to the board of directors. Hong “has been authorized to negotiate fully on all matters pertaining to ASH-Cable on my behalf,” the governor wrote. “I look forward to working collaboratively with you to ensure that ASH-Cable continues to be a viable enterprise,” Lolo continued.

Copies of the governor’s letter were forwarded to Hong, two other ATH officials, Toleafoa, and Lt. Gov. Lemanu Palepoi Sialega Mauga.