Eneida Torres de Durand is the lead researcher of the study. >Nahira Montcourt / EL VOCERO
The exponential increase in corruption cases in Puerto Rico evidenced by the recent arrests of politicians and private contractors by federal authorities generates concern because it shows that this criminal conduct has escalated to the highest spheres of government and affects the legitimacy of public institutions.
Researchers from the Center for Public and Corporate Governance (CGPC) presented to EL VOCERO the study Challenges of corruption for governance and the economy, in which they made an X-ray of the audit reports published by the Office of the Comptroller over the last decade, and which according to the data collected, shows how this crime is rooted in the government.
Between July 1, 2010 and June 30, 2019, the Office of the Comptroller published 1,042 reports of audits carried out in government agencies, from which 215 findings of a “serious nature” arise that were referred to the Department of Justice and/or the Office of Government Ethics (OEG).
Among the 215 findings, the CGPC researchers identified 127 incidents involving actions, acts or omissions that represent some form of corruption. However, they point out that these potential incidents do not represent the only acts of corruption that occurred in the period analyzed and conjecture that hundreds of other cases “escaped the visibility of the auditors” of the Comptroller.
The analysis establishes that of the 127 incidents of potential corruption, 94 (74%) were documented in the municipalities, 32 (25%) in the executive branch and one (1%) in the judiciary. The identified patterns mostly correspond to fraud, embezzlement and conflict of interest, three forms that recur in schemes recently revealed by federal authorities.
“The major interests have captured the government and these latest cases (of corruption) have made it evident because it has reached the highest figure in government. So we could be facing the capture of the State by particular interest groups, political and business, and that is the broadest hallmark of what a failed state is,” said the center's executive director, Eneida Torres.
Saúl Pratts, professor at the Graduate School of Public Administration of the University of Puerto Rico, and Rafael Durand, director of the research, urged a change in the paradigm in the fight against corruption as a strategy to curb the increase in the incidence of these cases.
“The anti-corruption framework has a problem, and it is that it keeps looking at the public employee and the government as the entity that provides the service, without taking into account privatization, and that is why people have great distrust, because the private sector goes unpunished in most of these cases (of corruption),” explained Pratts, addressing the fissures in the government structure.
The most notorious corruption cases in Puerto Rico—such as that of former Governor Wanda Vázquez and the former mayor of Cataño, Félix “El Cano” Delgado—involve in the schemes exposed by federal authorities people from the private sector, and have similarities in the alleged forms, among them bribery and conspiracy.
From the analysis of the Comptroller's reports it follows that of the 127 incidents identified, 66 (52%) correspond to fraud, 43 (33.9%) to embezzlement, 10 (7.9%) to conflicts of interest, three (2.3%) to nepotism, three (2.3%) to patronage, one (0.8%) to bribery and one (0.8%) to collusion.
In the municipalities
The report reflects that in the municipalities 54.6% of the cases are grouped into false quotations, hiring of engineers and/or architects without a license or corporations not authorized to provide the services, illegal appropriation of public funds, salary increases for the mayor and/or per diems for legislators without complying with the established process, and illegal procedures related to human resources management.
According to the research, the 11 municipalities identified with the highest number of incidents flagged during 2010 to 2019 are Barranquitas with six, followed by Guayanilla, Ponce, Mayagüez and Bayamón with four each. The municipalities of Cidra, Morovis, Guaynabo, Guánica, Camuy and Canóvanas have three incidents each.
The researcher Durand explained that the flags in Barranquitas—the municipality that tops the list—include payments for services not rendered, hiring of unauthorized professionals and/or corporations, a municipal official signing contracts and certifying payment vouchers to relatives, and the appointment of relatives of officials without the required waivers.
He added that 55% of the recurring incidents in the Executive are due to improper payment to a supplier or improper charging by the supplier, illegal procedures related to human resources and conflicts of interest in the awarding of contracts.
Durand added that 57.2% of the cases in public corporations are due to the use of public equipment and property for the benefit of a private and/or political entity, improper payment of severance compensation, and/or bonuses, among others.
“It should not be a surprise that many of these things ended up in Justice or in the OEG and no charges were filed,” he expressed.
Impact on the economy
Durand warned about the socioeconomic cost that corruption has in Puerto Rico, because it deepens social inequality and poverty, and generates distrust in citizens.
“The economy of Puerto Rico shows a reduction in its real gross domestic product (GDP). For 2021, it was 2%, but that trend has been occurring since 2005,” Durand emphasized.
He indicated that between the years 2017 and 2018—when Puerto Rico was destroyed by Hurricane María—the fall in GDP was more marked, at 4.13% and 4.61%, respectively. EL VOCERO reported a month ago that the annual losses caused by acts of corruption on the Island have been estimated at 10% of the government budget, according to data from the Comptroller.
Durand pointed out that the deficiencies in the economic framework—dependent on the influx of federal funds—inflation and the rise in gasoline, “have consequences on our possibilities of steering a true and sustainable economic recovery.”
He added that economic development has been complicated on the Island because of the corruption that promotes the use of limited resources in contracts and appointments that, as he understands, are unnecessary.
The three researchers agreed that it is urgent to improve the governance and administrative capacity of institutions with robust mechanisms of transparency and accountability.
In addition, they argued that although there is a legal structure—that has an Anti-Corruption Code—it has not been enough to curb administrative dishonesty.
Torres, who is the lead researcher of the study, highlighted that “it is not a problem of legislation that we have before us… it is a problem of government management and of bad practices rooted, because the poison is political clientelism and political investmentism that has rapidly deteriorated public administration.”
She asserted that improving governance and strengthening the anti-corruption system requires establishing clear priorities and stimulating a culture of public integrity based on meritocracy. “No government can operate in a centralized manner; governments already have to depend on the input of citizens and communities, and have a country plan for what they are going to execute,” she concluded.
Some documents on this page are saved in PDF format.
To view these documents, you must have the following free program installed.
