Ernesto Zayas García, former director of the Office of Business Incentives at the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC), issued a press release in response to a sworn complaint filed by Secretary of the Interior Francisco Domenech against former DDEC Secretary Sebastián Negrón Reichard. Zayas García's statement lacks supporting documents and contradicts official documents published earlier in the week.
Domenech presented documents from the Office of Government Ethics (OEG) and the Comptroller's Office to support his allegations that Negrón Reichard committed at least five corruption offenses. The allegations include actions that favored Negrón Reichard's wife and benefited clients of the law firm Reichard & Escalera with $74,111,276.62 in incentives, potentially violating several provisions of the Ethics Law.
Zayas García claimed he had no knowledge of the benefit for the company owned by Negrón Reichard's wife, María Beatriz Gorostiaga Zubizarreta, being evaluated or approved by his office. Zayas García stated he never saw the application for the alleged decree for Gorostiaga Zubizarreta's company.