Before the refusal of the Department of Justice and the Bureau of Special Investigations (NIE) to deliver the preliminary report on the management of the supply store in Ponce, the representative Gabriel Rodríguez Aguiló, president of the cameral commission that investigates the government’s response to the earthquake emergency, said the legislative body will go to court to obtain the document.
In a public hearing of the Special Commission for the Reconstruction and Total Preparation of Puerto Rico in an Emergency, the secretary of Justice, Dennise Longo, insisted that the preliminary report made by the NIE, and completed on January 20, is part of the “Fiscal summary” of the investigation carried out by the Public Integrity Division and, as such, cannot be disclosed.
For his part, the NIE commissioner, Héctor López Sánchez, said that his agency will grant “deference” to the Department of Justice on the possibility of disclosing the content of the report.
During his question time, Rodríguez Aguiló said the commission will require, under penalty of contempt, the document, which was the result of an investigation that Governor Wanda Vázquez ordered on January 18, when citizens discovered a supply store in He says that he was allegedly not being properly used by the Bureau of Emergency Management and Disaster Management (Nmead) as part of the response to the disaster caused by seismic activity in the south.
Upon transcending the warehouse find, Vázquez dismissed the then commissioner of Nmead, Carlos Acevedo.
According to Rodríguez Aguiló, the claim of confidentiality of Justice and the NIE is an “invitation” for the Legislature to present a legal remedy that forces agencies to provide the report.
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In his presentation, Longo relied on an article of the organic law of the Department of Justice, which states that “the information obtained as a result of the investigation carried out is confidential and must be kept in an investigative file, which cannot be object of inspection, examination or disclosure while conducting the investigation ”.
The president of the commission also questioned the statement made yesterday by Longo, so that the investigation into the management of supplies could take “two to three years.”
“It seems that the same thing will happen as with the vans and supplies after Hurricane Maria. (The irregularities) generated first planes and then (the investigations) were nothing. That is what we want to avoid, ”said the Novoprogressive representative.
Longo stressed that his expressions did not necessarily represent an expectation about the period this particular investigation could take.
“All investigations have their rhythm,” Longo said, adding that since the day the preliminary report was referred to Justice, prosecutors have worked “hard to have this in haste.”
Although the investigation on the management of supplies has been characterized as “administrative,” both Longo and López Sánchez stressed that the agencies do not distinguish between administrative or criminal investigations during the process of collecting information.
The independence representative Denis Márquez questioned why the executive agencies refused to offer information on the preliminary report, when the nominated secretary of state, Elmer Román, had already supplied the commission with a letter informing the governor that it coincided with NIE’s recommendation to refer the results to Justice.
According to Márquez, when providing a copy of the letter, Román “made interpretations of the report publicly”.
The legislator also pointed out that López Sánchez, as head of the NIE, does not respond to the Department of Justice and, therefore, should not be unable to directly provide a copy of the report.
However, López Sánchez claimed that the law created by the Department of Public Security – to which the NIE is attached – does impose certain restrictions on the handling of information resulting from investigations.
The spokesman for the Popular Democratic Party in the commission, Rafael “Tatito” Hernández, argued that López Sánchez violated Vázquez’s orders by sending the report to Román, in addition to referring him to Justice. Before being nominated for the Secretary of State, Román was secretary of the DSP, which oversees the work of the Nmead.
López Sánchez stated that the president had appointed Román as the person in charge of supervising the investigation, which should be completed within 48 hours.
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