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Saipan - A temporary restraining order was issued by the CNMI Superior Court this morning stopping Gov. Benigno Fitial, former attorney general Edward Buckingham, the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation, and Saipan Development LLC from pursuing a controversial $190-million, 25-year power purchase agreement.

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 The Saipan Tribune reports that in granting Rep. Janet U. Maratita’s motion for TRO, Superior Court associate judge David Wiseman ordered Fitial, Buckingham, CUC, and Saipan Development to show cause why a preliminary injunction against them, restraining them from executing the deal, should not be issued.

Wiseman didn’t require a security bond when he issued the TRO because he said Maratita is an elected officer of the Commonwealth. He added it is also in the public’s best interest not to require a security bond for this case.

Maratita, through counsel Ramon Quichocho, is suing Fitial, Buckingham, CUC, and Saipan Development LLC over the signing of the power purchase agreement last Aug. 3.

Maratita asked the court to declare that the power purchase agreement is “unconstitutional, illegal, unconscionable, and unjust, and therefore cancelled.”

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