Health bought at a markup from a contact referred by the National Guard

On July 23, 2020, the CPI reported that the Department of Health bought medical equipment at a markup from a contact referred by the Puerto Rico National Guard, in a pattern of intermediaries without medical-product experience and breached terms. Between April and June 30, the National Guard disbursed $4.3 million in emergency-related purchases.

The piece links those purchases to the broader COVID-19 tests and supplies scheme: medical Task force, Fortaleza, the private sector, federal probes of Health since March, and a Financial Oversight Board demand in early June for documents on the sale of tests. As of June, the CPI cites more than 400,000 official deaths worldwide and 153 in Puerto Rico (population ~3.2 million).

On the Maitland line — also in the tests coverage — Hacienda’s assistant secretary for Accounting, Alfonso Rossy Raíces, said in a public hearing, according to the final report of the House commission that investigated Health purchases, that the agency paid more than $360,000 in Florida taxes it could have avoided with an exemption form. The CPI contrasts prices: other similar sales were cheaper than those acquired through that channel.

The pattern described: a company or individual as front, contacts with privileged government access, foreign partners and intermediaries who profit from the sale. Companies that “vanish like ghosts” after breaching terms appear in the CPI account as part of the same emergency-procurement climate.

A National Guard disbursement alone does not prove adjudicated fraud. A Board demand for documents is not a ruling on the merits of each contract. Cousin: the May 28, 2020 note on the tests scheme.