Last month, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren was served an ethics complaint, outlining financial allegations and calling for his immediate removal. Now, Nygren’s former chief of staff has received one, too.
Patrick Sandoval stepped down in March for medical reasons, but shares he’s since been served at his Flagstaff home — first learning about it through a “prejudicial news release” from the Navajo Nation Council on social media over the weekend.
“They taped the notice on my door late Monday afternoon. They seem to be a little disorganized,” Sandoval told KJZZ. “They’re going to kind of throw, you know, things at the wall and see what sticks and what doesn’t. But they’ve contacted nobody — no interviews or no nothing. And it’s one-sided.”
As of Wednesday morning, Sandoval admits he still hasn't read it yet.
Special prosecutor Kyle Nayback accuses Sandoval of soliciting and accepting gifts and loans of more than $10,000 for himself and Nygren. Those came from Innovative Electric, a New Mexico-based company seeking payment in excess of half a million dollars from the Navajo Nation’s executive branch.
When asked for a copy of that complaint, the special prosecutor did not send one. Nayback told KJZZ that he does “not comment on pending matters,” while the Four Corners region company located in Farmington, New Mexico, did not respond.
Earlier this month, the Window Rock District Court has dismissed the ethics complaint against Nygren, citing a lack of jurisdiction to hear the case. Nygren hopes this decision is the conclusion “to what has become a political witch hunt.”
As for Nayback, he firmly believes that dismissal on a technicality does not exonerate him of “wrongdoing and misconduct alleged in the charging document,” reiterating his commitment as special prosecutor “to root out corruption, wherever it lies, and no matter what position the offender holds.”
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