FEI Panel names special prosecutor to investigate the mayor of Ponce

The Panel on the Independent Special Prosecutor (PFEI) resolved on April 11, 2023, to appoint an independent special prosecutor to deepen the preliminary investigation of the mayor of the Autonomous Municipality of Ponce, Luis Manuel Irizarry Pabón. The case number is DI-FEI-2023-0015.

The resolution records that on March 20, 2023, Justice Secretary Domingo Emanuelli Hernández recommended that the Panel name an FEI. The Department of Justice’s preliminary investigation concluded that the mayor may have engaged in conduct contrary to Arts. 191 and 251 of the Penal Code, as well as violations of the Government Ethics Act and the Act for Oversight of Political Campaign Financing.

The origin of the file, according to the document, was an email from Jaime Santiago Bátiz to Comptroller Yesmin Valdivieso, who in turn sent it to the Justice Secretary. That communication alleges that the mayor assigned two officials to solicit money contributions from trust employees and Popular Party-affiliated employees who work in the municipality, in order to pay a personal loan that — it is argued — was used for past campaign expenses and other personal expenses. It also alleges a kickback scheme in which two other officials asked money from employees who had been appointed in the municipality.

The preliminary report, cited in the resolution, links findings of greater scope: possible violations of Arts. 191 and 251 of the Penal Code; Arts. 4.2(b) and (m) of the Government Ethics Act; and Art. 13.005 of the campaign-finance law, for filing reports alleged to be false. The Panel found tending proof of those possible infractions and accepted the Secretary’s recommendation.

Accordingly, it designated Atty. Manuel Núñez Corrada as Independent Special Prosecutor and Atty. Miguel Colón Ortiz as Delegate Prosecutor, with authority also to proceed against any other official who violated the law as to these facts. It granted them the 90-day term provided by Act 2-1988, counted from notice, with an extension only if requested of the Panel at least 10 business days before the deadline. The authority includes, if the law so warrants, filing criminal charges in the courts.

The resolution is signed in San Juan on April 11, 2023, by Nydia M. Cotto Vives, PFEI chair. A Justice recommendation and the naming of an FEI are not a conviction; they are allegations and a deeper investigation, not a judicial ruling.