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The independence representative Denis Marquez He said tonight that the information released this afternoon during an executive hearing of the Health Commission of the House of Representatives by the president of the company Apex General Contractors, Robert Rodríguez López, caused him “disgust.”
Among other things, it was revealed thanks to people who did not want to identify themselves, but participated in the hearing, that Rodríguez López basically tried to detach himself from the purchase of a million pieces of evidence for $ 38 million and pointed to Juan Maldonado as the architect of the ill-fated transaction at time that accused him of falsifying a signature so that the contract would be signed.
Márquez expressed himself by pointing out that the information discussed in the private hearing has already been leaked. The hearing allegedly found that, although Rodríguez López said he was unaware of the transaction, he did nothing to stop it despite the fact that the contract had been awarded to his company.
“Throughout this process I have gone through several stages. The stage of annoyance, the stage of anger, the stage of indignation and today I have reached the stage of disgust, convinced that this has been a disgusting process in which multiple illegalities were committed such as the falsification of documents and signatures, fraudulent representations to the government of Puerto Rico and illegally sign contracts. All this unequivocally demonstrates political patronage and political corruption as I have stated in conclusion number one of my report, ”said Márquez.
“And to complete the matter, we have that this person who testified today – who has indicated that he is giving testimony to various state and federal agencies – makes sworn allegations about all these illegalities referring to attorney Juan Maldonado, but on March 26 he celebrated that His company was awarded this millionaire contract and tried by all means to ratify and to keep this contract and at no time did he make any type of public comment or complaint. ”
At the hearing it emerged that Rodríguez López, in effect, after allegedly learning that Maldonado had managed to get the contract signed behind his back, went to political analysts, business owners and politicians to get him to reduce the exposure his company received in the media.
“This is a fraudulent sale, it is a sale full of public corruption and all this occurs in the midst of this national emergency where thousands of people are suffering from this terrible virus, more than one hundred people have lost their lives and the social effects and economic of this situation ”, said Márquez. “We must denounce this and we must continue to fight so that this process does not go unpunished and those responsible get away with it.”
The president of the Health Commission, Juan Oscar Morales, revealed this afternoon that during the hearing today two names emerged: that of Álex López Echegaray and that of Willie Vega. The first is a legislative adviser to Governor Wanda Vázquez, and Morales merely indicated that it emerged in the context of the efforts made from La Fortaleza while the Apex order was canceled. Morales did not indicate that he has made any irregularity known to López Echegaray.
Vega, meanwhile, is a legislative adviser to the Senate. El Nuevo Día learned that Rodríguez López approached him to reach the president of the Senate, Thomas Rivera Schatz, with whom he had a telephone conversation while the order to Apex was canceled. Rodríguez López clarified that Rivera Schatz indicated that he did not want to enter the matter and hooked him.
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