Lt. Gov. Aitofele T.F. Sunia and Territorial Senator Tini Lam Yuen, of the U.S. Territory of American Samoa, were arrested on fraud, bribery, and obstruction charges, Assistant Attorney General Alice S. Fisher of the Criminal Division announced today.

Sunia, 64, and Lam Yuen, 56, both residents of American Samoa, were charged today in a six-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in the District of Columbia on Thursday and unsealed today.

The indictment charges Sunia and Lam Yuen with one count of conspiracy; one count of fraud and one count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds; and one count each of obstruction of an agency proceeding, according to a news release.

Lam Yuen is charged with an additional count of bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds.

According to the indictment, Sunia was the treasurer of American Samoa at the time of the crimes.

The defendants allegedly engaged in a scheme to avoid the competitive bidding process by conspiring to split a large project for furniture construction for the American Samoa school system among companies owned and operated by the defendants and a third company owned by the Chief Procurement Officer of American Samoa Fa'au Seumanutafa, according to the release.

The defendants also conspired to structure invoices and procurement paperwork to create the false appearance that the projects were dozens of small projects beneath the $10,000 threshold requiring competitive public bidding. In fact the defendants and their co-conspirator handled shared projects without competitive bidding worth collectively more than $775,000 over the course of approximately three years.

The indictment further alleges that the defendants agreed to split the projects with Seumanutafa as a bribe in exchange for his failure to enforce the procurement laws of American Samoa, and that they provided cash gifts and free contracting work to former director of the American Samoa Department of Education Kerisano Sili Sataua, in exchange for his agreement to facilitate the fraudulent scheme, according to the release.

On Oct. 17, 2005, Sataua was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $61,000 in restitution for his involvement in this fraud and bribery conspiracy.

On Oct. 3, 2005, Seumanutafa was sentenced to eight months in prison and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine and $80,000 in restitution for his involvement in the conspiracy.