U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Insular Areas Anthony Babauta has been placed on leave pending an Inspector General investigation, according to Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen and several news reports.
"I have no comment on the charges until the investigation is complete," Christensen said in a statement.
"I have known Assistant Secretary Babauta since the beginning of my tenure in Congress. He served as subcommittee staff director when I chaired the Natural Resources Subcommittee on Insular Affairs in 2007 until he became the assistant secretary in 2009," Christensen continued.
"He is very knowledgeable about the federal issues that face the American territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific, and he has been very helpful to the U.S. Virgin Islands during his tenure. Having known and worked with the assistant secretary for a number of years, I look forward to him being cleared of whatever the concerns are so that we can continue to address the challenges that face the territories," Christensen said.
