The Office of the Comptroller of Puerto Rico issued a favorable opinion on the fiscal operations of the Municipality of Patillas. The tests performed and the evidence in the possession of the Office of the Comptroller revealed that the formalization of the service contracts for the collection of debris after the passage of Hurricane María was carried out, in all significant aspects, in accordance with the applicable law and regulations.
On the other hand, the Report comments that the Municipality formalized a lease contract in 2012 with a corporation whose secretary and signer of the contract pleaded guilty in 2018 before the United States Federal Court for the District of Puerto Rico, on charges of conspiracy, theft of public money or property, wire fraud, mail fraud, and money laundering conspiracy.
Act 458-2000, as amended, provides, among other things, that no head of Government must award any bid or contract for the acquisition of services or goods to a natural or juridical person who has been convicted or has pleaded guilty in the state or federal forum or in any jurisdiction of the United States of America, for offenses constituting fraud, embezzlement, or illegal appropriation of public funds. In addition, the $1,200,000 contract, in effect until December 31, 2021, establishes that it would become null upon the occurrence of any conviction against the lessor party, or upon an admission of guilt for any of the offenses enumerated in Article 3 of Act 458-2000, as amended. The Office of the Comptroller notified the Municipality of this situation on September 10, 2019, and advised it on the legal actions it could take in this regard.
The Report recommends to the mayor that he must recover the disbursements made in connection with the contract, in the event that the contract proves to be nonexistent after corroborating that the corporation does not have the legal capacity to lease the property. If the contract proves valid after the legal evaluation, then the Municipality must cancel it, once the person is found guilty by the Court.
This report, the second and final one of the Municipality of Patillas, covers the period from July 1, 2014 to October 31, 2018.
See Audit Report M-20-33.
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