Posted on 09/14/2018 7:37:56 AM PDT by Hamiltonian
SAN JUAN – The Puerto Rico Comptroller’s Office Thursday said it found evidence of irregularities in the electric power company’s fuel purchasing and payments for professional service.
The report establishes that in eight contracts and an amendment for the purchase of $4.6 billion worth of fuel between 2008 and 2012, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (Prepa) did not include in the contracts a clause to charge interest for delays. Despite the absence of this clause in the contracts, the utility disbursed $3.3 million to the suppliers.......
The audit of three findings indicates that $2.3 billion in payments were made to a company that had pleaded guilty to fraud in 2006.....
(Excerpt) Read more at caribbeanbusiness.com ...
in 2016:
Justice Department to File Criminal Charges Against Petro West Exec
SAN JUAN—The Puerto Rico Department of Justice will file criminal charges against Petro West Puerto Rico President José González Amador early next week, government officials revealed on Wednesday.
The exec has been summoned to appear before the Justice Department on June 20 to hear the charges, which involve an alleged oil-purchasing scheme at the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (Prepa).
Result of other pre-2017 events:
Puerto Rico residents sue power authority, allege fraud
Local residents and businesses sued Puerto Rico’s Electric Power Authority (PREPA) in federal court on Tuesday, alleging fraud in the fuel oil procurement process that plaintiffs said resulted in island residents being overcharged by more than $1 billion.
The lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico accuses PREPA, one of the largest U.S. public utilities, of taking kickbacks to accept millions of barrels of fuel oil from suppliers that did not meet contract requirements or federal environmental standards.
Trumps fault....
He ordered them to have substandard power infrastructure so he could murder 3,000+ people using the Israeli controlled weather machine. Yes, they are that friggin’ unhinged.
Even the New York Times in 2016 during the Obama regime understood that Socialists eventually run out of ‘Other People’s Money’.
Also, note the last property tax assessment was done in 1958. Most of the housing probably has an assessed valuation of $5000.
It must be nice to live in a Socialist Paradise where the government does not have to pay for its electricity and the property owners pay a property tax based upon the 1958 values.
Shouldn’t we all demand to do the same in our states?
How Free Electricity Helped Dig $9 Billion Hole in Puerto Rico
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/02/business/dealbook/puerto-rico-power-authoritys-debt-is-rooted-in-free-electricity.html
NEW YORK TIMES Feb. 1, 2016
AGUADILLA, P.R. — To understand how Puerto Rico’s power authority has piled up $9 billion in debt, one need only visit this bustling city on the northwest coast.
Twenty years ago, it was just another town with dwindling finances. Then, it went on a development spree, thanks to a generous —some might say ill-considered — gift from the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority.
Today, Aguadilla has 19 city-owned restaurants and a city-owned hotel, a water park billed as biggest in the Caribbean, a minor-league baseball stadium bathed in floodlights and a waterfront studded with dancing fountains and glimmering streetlights.
Most striking is the ice-skating rink. Unusual in a region where the temperature rarely drops below 70 degrees, the rink is complete with a disco ball and laser lights.
And that is the catch. What most likely would be the biggest recurring expense for these attractions — electricity — costs Aguadilla nothing. It has been provided free for years by the power authority, known as Prepa.
In fact, the power authority has been giving free power to all 78 of Puerto Rico’s municipalities, to many of its government-owned enterprises, even to some for-profit businesses — although not to its citizens. It has done so for decades, even as it has sunk deeper and deeper in debt, borrowing billions just to stay afloat.
Now, however, the island’s government is running out of cash, facing a total debt of $72 billion and already defaulting on some bonds — and an effort is underway to limit the free electricity, which is estimated to cost the power authority hundreds of millions of dollars.
But like many financial arrangements on the island, the free electricity is so tightly woven into the fabric of society that unwinding it would have vast ramifications and, some say, only worsen the plight of the people who live here.
“If the towns don’t get free energy, they’re going to have to pay for it by increasing their property taxes or something, so the people will end up paying,” said Eduardo Bhatia, the president of the Puerto Rico Senate. Residents of the island are already upset about a recent sales tax increase to 11 percent, from 7 percent, and a property tax increase now would cause an outcry. The last assessment was in 1958.
The MSM lemmings are attributing the post-hurricane “3,000” total to lack of power and water. They don’t talk about why the power was out.
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