Hernández, Warren and allies demand records from Colón, Carlo and Zapata on PE contract

Resident Commissioner Pablo José Hernández announced this Thursday that high-ranking federal lawmakers will open an information inquiry into the roughly $5.9 billion temporary power-generation contract in Puerto Rico, canceled after alleged irregularities. The request is signed, in addition to Hernández, by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Sen. Martin Heinrich and Reps. Jared Huffman, Robert Garcia and Derek Tran. They demand records from Energy czar Josué Colón Ortiz, Third-Party Procurement Office president Osvaldo Carlo Linares and PREPA executive director Mary C. Zapata Acosta, with a September 9 deadline to deliver the information. Off 423 Board revokes PE.

The letter seeks to clarify who used or authorized the signature attributed to a person identified as Jhoby Weaks; when the agencies learned that Enchanted Rock allegedly denied having authorized that use; why about eight weeks passed before the allegations were referred to authorities; and why PREPA and the Fiscal Control Board were not notified earlier. They ask for copies of communications, files and related documents. Hernández framed the cancellation as leaving the island without the temporary generation planned for peak-consumption months and said Congress will follow up and evaluate whether further actions are needed. An information request is not a finding of crime.

Fuente: El Vocero. https://www.elvocero.com/gobierno/congresistas-investigar-n-contrato-de-generaci-n-el-ctrica-y-emplazan-a-zar-de-energ/article_ad142a5f-dec5-43f5-9a1e-b826d1ed6266.html