Auditors from Puerto Rico’s Office of Government Ethics (OEG) and the Office of the Comptroller went to the office of the House of Representatives’ Government Committee to request the documents making up its report on the failed hiring of the company Power Expectations, committee chair Víctor Parés said on Monday, November 9. Parés said several investigations are already under way by different agencies, among them the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Justice, the Office of the Independent Special Prosecutor panel and the Inspector General.
"The Office of the Comptroller and Government Ethics have already sent auditors to the committee’s office to look for the data we have," the representative said, adding that he understands they are working in a task force involved in these investigations. Asked whether the inquiries would take time to produce results, such as the filing of charges or findings of violations, Parés said he did not think so.
"We have recordings, text messages and a chat. That data we obtained is available to federal and local authorities," he added. The 120-page partial report said energy czar Josué Colón, former Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA; AEE in Spanish) executive director Mary Carmen Zapata and Independent Office of Acquisitions (3PPO) president Osvaldo Carlo Linares may have committed criminal, civil and administrative violations in their roles tied to the generation contract.