Pubdate: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 Source: New York Times (NY) Section: Education Copyright: 2002 The New York Times Company Contact: http://www.nytimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/298 Author: Mireya Navarro Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/corrupt.htm (Corruption) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine) U.S. SAYS PUERTO RICAN OFFICIALS STOLE FOR THEMSELVES AND A PARTY SAN JUAN, P.R. -- A wave of corruption scandals that has already led to dozens of arrests of officials and police officers crested today with the federal indictment of 17 people, including a former education secretary charged with stealing money for himself and for his political party. Victor Fajardo, Puerto Rico's education secretary from 1994 to 2000 under the administration of Gov. Pedro J. Rossello, is accused of extorting millions of dollars, a house worth nearly $1 million and a valuable painting from contractors. He was so flush with cash that he kept more than $300,000 hidden at home, law enforcement officials said. Also indicted were Richard D'Acosta, president of the Puerto Rico Chamber of Commerce; his wife, Victoria Vargas; Jose O. Cruz, associate education secretary; a sister-in-law of Mr. Fajardo, Maria Ramos Matos; 10 contractors; a subordinate of Mr. Fajardo; and a man accused of setting up a sham company. Beyond the charges, what has drawn analysts's attention and public indignation is the connection to the New Progressive Party, one of the two main parties here. The indictment accuses Mr. Fajardo of engaging in an extortion plot that siphoned federal money not only to himself and his associates, but also to the progressive party, which favors statehood. It says Mr. Fajardo, who is cooperating with the authorities, asked Education Department contractors for 10 percent of each contract in kickbacks that they could pay in one of two ways, in cash or by paying the party's bills for purchases and services like car rentals. The indictment said Mr. Fajardo and two subordinates extorted a total of $4.3 million from the contractors and "delivered hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash of extortion money to their political party." At a news conference, United States Attorney Guillermo Gil, who said the party received $1.5 million, said his office had no evidence of whether party officials had ordered the scheme or even knew about it. The inquiry is continuing. Mr. Gil and others, including the Puerto Rico Comptroller's Office, called for changes in campaign financing to prohibit the use of private money to finance political campaigns. Mr. Gil condemned the practice in which parties in power assign fund-raising quotas to the heads of government departments to help pay for campaign debts and party activities. "If they want to combat corruption, there has to be a change in the way both parties raise funds," Mr. Gil said, referring to the progressive party and the governing Popular Democratic Party, which favors the prevailing commonwealth system. "There's no way they're going to collect those sums of money through raffle tickets." Mr. Gil said his office, which is seeking forfeiture of the stolen money, had recovered $1 million, more than $300,000 of that from Mr. Fajardo's house. Prosecuting corruption is a priority of Gov. Sila M. Calderon, who won the election in 2000 on a platform to fight corruption and belongs to the Popular Democratic Party, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, whose field office here now ranks second, behind Newark, N.J., in the number of agents assigned to corruption investigations. The assistant special F.B.I. agent in charge of corruption cases here, Jane M. Erickson, said that since 2000 there had been 107 indictments on corruption charges, with 16 convictions. The prosecutions have led to the arrests of cabinet members, police officers, mayors and legislators. These are among the most significant: - -Twenty-three police officers were indicted this month on charges of protecting drug traffickers for cash. They were accused of lying in court and missing court appearances to have charges against drug defendants dismissed. - -Twenty-nine police officers were indicted in August, accused of using their police powers to protect cocaine shipments. All but one officer were charged with conspiring to possess and distribute cocaine. - -A former House speaker from the progressive party and a Republican Party national committeeman, Edison Misla Aldarondo, was indicted in October on charges of extortion, money laundering and witness tampering. He is accused of demanding money in exchange for using his influence in a public hospital sale. The indictment today says Mr. Fajardo recruited others, including his sister-in-law, to set up two companies as fronts to hide federal money diverted from his department through contracts awarded to the bogus corporations and by the extortion of contractors, who would pay false invoices to the sham companies. Starting in 1995, the contractors, the charges say, gave cash and "things of value" like paintings to Mr. Fajardo and Mr. Cruz, the associate education secretary, to obtain contracts for their companies. They also paid party invoices, the indictment says. Mr. Fajardo said he would plead guilty to the charges. "That I used a position of power to advance ideological and personal positions does not excuse my actions," he said. Mr. D'Acosta, the chamber of commerce president, and his wife were accused of paying thousands of dollars to Mr. Fajardo to obtain a contract. Some political experts here said the cases reflected a general malaise seen in other countries. "There's a climate in which if the subordinate sees the boss stealing, he, too, wants to steal," said Marco A. Rigau Jr., a former senator for the pro-commonwealth party and a lawyer for a police officer arrested this month on drug charges. "There's been an acclimatization to corruption. Many people are immune to it." Mr. Rigau said the indictment was particularly alarming because although corruption and patronage were not new, the charges suggest something new, a possibility of institutionalized corruption by a governing party. "The question is who knew about it," said Mr. Rigau, who also has a radio talk show. "This is a who's who of indictments." The president of the progressive party, Carlos Pesquera, called the indictment "a disgraceful event" that he particularly repudiated because Mr. Fajardo was responsible for overseeing public schools. Mr. Pesquera and other party supporters have ascribed political motivations to the prosecution. They say the patterns of cases at the federal and local levels are selective, and say their party has been singled out for prosecution at the instigation of the current administration. Luis Davila Colon, an author, a newspaper columnist and a radio commentator who favors statehood, said, "The statehood movement will survive because it's a mass of 900,000 voters." He also said some of the cases seemed frivolous and intended just to destroy reputations. Officials from the United States attorney's office and the F.B.I. denied a political agenda existed. Governor Calderon said today that she was being as vigilant in her own administration. She said she was proposing legislation to change campaign financing and a code of ethics for the business. "I ran a campaign of clean government, and that's exactly what I'm doing, cleaning up," she said in a telephone interview. "I believe countries should have a government that reflects its people, and the Puerto Rican people are honest people." Many Puerto Ricans seemed to agree that the time was ripe to clean house, voicing disgust about the charges. Francisco J. Murga, 48, a security guard with two schoolchildren, said the allegations against the former education chief and his deputies were particularly egregious in view of the schools' many needs. "They don't even give good maintenance to the bathrooms," Mr. Murga said. "These were the same people who complained there were no funds, and they themselves were stealing the funds." - --- MAP posted-by: Jackl