GOVERNOR GIVES OUT FIRST PARDONS
As reported by El Nuevo Dia today, Puerto Rico Governor Alejandro
Garcia Padilla granted the first pardons of his administration on
January 20th. Thirteen pardons were granted, with six total pardons
and seven conditional ones. The most serious offender who was pardoned
by Padilla was a conditional one granted to a man who had been in prison
since 1993 for first degree murder, theft, conspiracy and weapons violations.
According to the Governor's office, the pardon was granted after careful
consideration and proof of rehabilitation. The other individuals who were
pardoned all had sentences of six years or less.
INITIAL PRICE SPIKES EXPECTED UNDER IVA
From The San Juan Daily Star:
Certified Public Accountants Association President Kermit Lucena
said that when the local tax rate goes up to 16 percent in April,
people should expect an initial jump of nine points in prices for
goods, before they likely stabilize. “If you pay $1.07 now, you
will pay $1.16,” he said. “For those entities that can not absorb
the cost of the value-added tax, you will see a hike in prices.”
Lucena said he does not know whether that will lead to long-term
inflation, but has his doubts that it will. “Inflation is month by
month,” he said. “I don’t expect to see a 10 percent to 12 percent
hike month by month like in Latin America, but we will see an
initial jump.”
DORAL MADE LARGE LOAN IN FINAL WEEK
From Caribbean Business:
A week before Doral Bank was closed by federal regulators, it made
a $20 million loan to a company managed by Israeli investor Moishe
Mana for 17 different properties around Miami's Wynwood neighborhood,
according to Miami-Dade records. The 17 assorted properties owned by
Melanie Holdings LLC add up to approximately 4.9 acres of real estate.
Doral Bank was closed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC)
on Feb. 27. The bank had operations in Puerto Rico, Florida, and New
York. The FDIC entered into an agreement with Banco Popular de Puerto
Rico to sell some of the bank's assets, and is currently in two other
agreements to sell the majority of the remaining assets.
PR SENATE NIXES "ANTI-UBER" BILL
From News Is My Business:
A bill that seeks to establish public policy and regulate the operation
of mobile application-based transportation network companies, such as
San Francisco’s Uber, was struck down Monday on the Senate floor in a
13-11 vote. Bill 1209, authored and introduced last year by Sen. Antonio
Fas-Alzamora, sought to curb the arrival of these types of businesses,
known as TNCs for short, which allow consumers to submit a trip request,
which is routed to crowd-sourced taxi drivers.
WINNING POWERBALL TICKETS SOLD IN PR, USVI
From Virgin Islands Daily News:
The Caribbean was a lucky place to buy Powerball tickets this weekend
because one person in the Virgin Islands and one person in Puerto Rico
each turned a $3 investment into $2 million, according to the Powerball
website. Someone in St. Thomas, St. Croix or St. John matched five of
the six numbers in Saturday's drawing.
The numbers drawn were 11, 17, 25, 28, 46 and the Powerball number was
12, according to the website. Powerball tickets cost $2 each, and the
Powerplay option costs an extra $1. Because the Powerplay multiplier
came up as "2X," the person in Puerto Rico and the person in the Virgin
Islands doubled the $1 million they each won by matching five numbers.
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