by Mindy Aguon

Guam - A federal probe in the nation's capitol into Department of the Interior assistant secretary for insular affairs Tony Babauta heads to Guam. University of Guam president Dr. Robert Underwood says he will be interviewed next week as part of the ongoing investigation into federal official.

Dr. Underwood told KUAM News, "I was contacted on December 18 or 17th by the IG's Office of the Department of Interior, saying that they had indicated there was an interest to talk to me about some of the grants given by the Department of Interior to the University." He notes that UOG itself is not under any kind of investigation, but believes its part of the overall probe into the allegations against Babauta.

The Office of the Inspector General is conducting an investigation into Babauta's travel as well as reviewing grants that were awarded by the Office of Insular Affairs. Babauta was placed on administrative leave.

Underwood meanwhile says while Babauta has had a professional and productive relationship with UOG, he couldn't think of any strange or suspicious activity regarding the grants. "So as a matter of fact, we went through and look at the inventory of grants and how we managed them," he detailed.

UOG has received over a million in grants from DOI, connected mostly to sustainability under UOG Green and the Buy Local initiative under the School of Business. "And other than that, I can't think of anything that was unusual or would draw attention," he added.

Babauta has not returned KUAM's calls or responded to e-mail inquiries, but Underwood says he spoke with him last month. "I talked to him briefly in early December and that's the last contact I've had," he said. When asked what it was about, Underwood replied, "Well, he was concerned because he expressed some sentiment that this was coming up."

Underwood says officials will be here for a week and considering only two hours was reserved for him on Wednesday, he believes others will be interviewed as well.

Although nothing has been revealed yet, Underwood believes the findings will clearly exonerate Babauta. "Tony Babauta is one of the most knowledgeable people about federal relations and the federal government and he's been an enormous value to the island over the years," Underwood stated. "And it's a shame we're at this point."

Babauta was a former staffer of Underwood when he was Guam's delegate to Congress. Millions in grants awarded by DOI have gone to Guam agencies for various projects such as to the Department of Administration to upgrade GovGuam's procurement system; millions were awarded to the Guam Fire Department to purchase ambulances, Babauta also awarded grants to the Department of Education as well as Public Works, just to name a few.