Puerto Rico Ping! Please Freepmail me if you want on or off the list.
Posted on 04/02/2008 7:07:17 AM PDT by Ebenezer
(English-language translation)
While officials with the Popular Democratic Party admit to the growing rumors pointing at new arrests in the corruption case against Governor Aníbal Acevedo Vilá, Comptroller Manuel Díaz Saldaña confirmed to EL VOCERO that at least 30 other persons linked to the Governor, including several close relatives, are still the target of the U.S. Department of Justice investigation.
"When you add up all the people (who are made reference to in the March 24 indictment), it comes to more than 40. It's not for me to say whether or not there will be more indictments. That's up to the U.S. Attorney," said the Comptroller, who has been an integral part of this investigation since June 2006. "Why they have not been mentioned by name, I don't know."
While explaining during a telephone interview with this daily that this criminal case is much more widespread than what has been revealed so far, Díaz insisted on referring exclusively to the indictment itself that was handed out by the federal authorities last week against Acevedo and 12 other defendants. When announcing the arrests, acting U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodríguez had indicated that the investigation is still open and ongoing.
The 55-page indictment not only confirms these statements, but it also appears to leave the door open for a second criminal case in the United States against another, yet unidentified, election candidate. According to the accusation, some of Acevedo's deceptive donations were transferred to this candidate, to which the Federal Elections Commission ordered Acevedo's campaign committee to reimburse some of its donors in Pennsylvania. According to prosecutors, the donated checks "were transferred (flip[ped]) to another favored candidate" in the summer of 2003 by two of the Pennsylvania defendants, Robert M. Feldman and Cándido Negrón Mella.
17 "Collaborators"
Different parts of the federal indictment detail the donations from 17 "collaborators" in Puerto Rico, who from September 1999 to May 2000 donated $182,000 to Acevedo's campaign [for Resident Commissioner] through phony transactions in order to conceal the source of the funds. These collaborators, who are identified simply as CL1, CL2, CL3, etc. in the indictment, contributed between $500 and $40,000 to the campaign that brought Acevedo to Congress. These so-called collaborators, the prosecutors add, donated an additional $55,000 surreptitiously to the campaign through its publicity agency Lopito, Ileana & Howie, which in turn used the money to pay some of Acevedo's campaign debts.
Family and Employees Involved
The federal authorities also allege that, between September 2001 and December 2002, unidentified members of Acevedo's family, as well as staff in his congressional office, served as cover for the money-laundering scheme by donating to the then-Resident Commissioner's campaign, and that these monies were then reimbursed to them by either cash or check. The indictment alleges that Acevedo and his legal advisor Luisa Inclán Bird (who also worked as a volunteer in the campaign committee's finance office) were directly involved in this scheme.
In the meantime, auditors with the Comptroller's Office continue examining the operations of the Puerto Rico Federal Affairs Administration, including those expenses from the Resident Commissioner's Office that are subsidized by the Commonwealth government, in addition to those covered by Congress. This audit covers a period of almost 10 years, ranging from January 1999 to present, [Díaz] explained.
As the late Buck Canel, a legendary sportscaster in the island, used to say: "The good thing about this is how bad it's going to get."
ping
Puerto Rico Ping! Please Freepmail me if you want on or off the list.
I read that Bill Clinton will be at the Ritz-Carlton at some Caribbean Global conference on Sat., 4/5. Any news in the media down there as to what his plans and/or schedule is on 4/6 and 4/7?
Where does the Governor think he is, Louisiana?
He will give a speech on the economy to the Puerto Rico Manufacturers Association on Sunday night at the Condado Plaza hotel. On Monday, he will inaugurate a chidren’s hospital in Bayamón. Then he will go on a bus tour around the island to campaign for Darth Hillary.
BILL CLINTON’S AGENDA IN PUERTO RICO - SUN., 4/6 TO MON. 4/7 —
http://www.elnuevodia.com/diario/noticia/politica/noticias/cargada_agenda_en_la_isla/386220
P.R. Manufacturers Association Conference - Condado Plaza Hotel - Sun., 4/6 at 7:00 p.m.
Inauguration Hermanos Melendez Hospital, Bayamon, Mon., 4/7
Public appearance at Universidad del Turabo, Barceloneta, Mon., 4/7
Meeting with 16 Mayors (unknown) at some point on Mon., 4/7
Meeting at the Puerto Rico Capitol Building to unveil a statue of FDR (still in the planning stages)
Fundraisers for Hillary on Sunday & Monday
Bus tour around the Island campaigning for Hillary
Notoriously absent from the agenda is a meeting with the now indicted Governor of Puerto Rico.
He’s supporting Obama anyway, so Bill’s probably in no hurry to go over there for a ‘tacita de cafe’....
I e-mailed Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Mark Levin a copy of my post above with Bill’s Puerto Rico agenda and a link to El Nuevo Dia article....
Hannibal Acevedeaux.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.