Puerto Rico Senator Juan Oscar Morales said the company NOLA Education spent $13,000 on Family Department Secretary Suzanne Roig and her staff, while Roig billed the Puerto Rico government $225 in per diem for the same trip. He made the statements in an interview with NotiUno’s program En Caliente con Carmen Jovet, amid calls for her to leave her post.
Morales was responding to Roig, who had told the Senate she is a victim of persecution and of malice. "Maldad es ir al Senado de Puerto Rico, pararse frente a todos los senadores allí y decir mentiras, eso es maldad" (Malice is going to the Puerto Rico Senate, standing before all the senators and telling lies), the senator said, adding that oversight cannot be confused with persecution.
Morales explained that when he asked who paid for the secretary’s meals during the trip, she answered that she paid in cash from her own pocket and had no receipts. After he sent a formal request to NOLA Education, the company confirmed it spent $13,000 on the secretary and her employees. Morales said Roig billed the government for $225 in per diem for that same trip.
He said he has already sent referrals on the case to several agencies: ethics, justice, the federal inspector general and Puerto Rico’s comptroller.