Jean Peña Payano, Public Affairs secretary at La Fortaleza, said Governor Jenniffer González’s achievements outnumber the controversies around her, even though more than seven investigations are under way involving senior current and former officials, including Francisco Domenech, Suzanne Roig and Ciary Pérez Peña. Speaking Sunday, October 25, at the "Asunto Semanal" press conference, he said the governor’s instruction is to let the probes run without interference.
He stressed the presumption of innocence and said the governor has spoken of 10 people being investigated. The Office of the Independent Special Prosecutor Panel (Opfei) is investigating former Governor’s Secretary Domenech and Deputy Secretary Itza García; former Permits Management Office official Norberto Almodóvar Vélez and former chief of staff Charlene Neuman Rivera, after preliminary findings of an independent Economic Development and Commerce Department (DDEC) review pointed to alleged interference in a competitive process for a federally funded advertising contract, which also added DDEC Deputy Secretary Roberto Lefranc Fortuño; and former Housing Secretary Pérez Peña and her father, Noel Pérez, over alleged irregularities at a family vehicle-sticker business in Yabucoa.
Last week Justice Secretary Lourdes Gómez announced a preliminary investigation of Family Secretary Roig, after former ADSEF head Blanca Medina Díaz accused her of undue pressure to award federally funded contracts. Peña Payano said Roig remains in her post and ruled out removing her. He criticized the media for covering "distractions" instead of the governor’s work and urged waiting for the investigations to end.