Commentary
by Richard Lawless
Every year hundreds of millions of dollars in public funds are allegedly stolen
by Puerto Rico’s professional political class and government workers. Money
that could not only pay Puerto Rico’s debt payments but help pay off their
staggering debt. Because of this, government services are curtailed and the
poor continue to suffer.
Senior Puerto Ricans have been a part of this culture of corruption for so
long that they have no desire to change it.
According to 2015 RICO charges, a scheme to steal one hundred million
dollars a year in public funds from the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority
(PREPA) was uncovered. The auditors that uncovered the theft were fired
and the Directors at PREPA that supported the auditors were replaced or
bought off.
It is this kind of outcome that keeps middle age Puerto Ricans from speaking
up. They fear the loss of their jobs or worse. In the meantime, government
employees like William Rodney Clark (RICO Defendant), the Manager for the
PREPA fuel purchase office, takes an early retirement to enjoy the alleged re-
wards associated with participating in some of the islands on-going corruption.
The Puerto Rico government has failed to provide audited financial state-
ments for two years. There is no credible accounting firm on the globe that
wants to be a party to these allegedly inaccurate or fraudulent government
accounting schemes.
No, it has to be the youngest generation of Puerto Ricans that cleans us this
mess and saves Puerto Rico. Teenagers, young adults and college students
are Puerto Rico’s only hope. Maybe, just maybe they have had enough and
want to save this beautiful island for their children.
Richard Lawless is CEO of Commercial Solar Power, Inc. in Temecula, CA. The opinions expressed in the
preceding commentary are exclusively his own.
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