Puerto Rico Senator Among Eight Arrested in Raids by U.S. FBI

(Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested a Puerto Rico senator from the island’s ruling New Progressive Party for a second time in as many years, along with seven others in the latest corruption-related crackdown in U.S. territory, local media reported.

Abel Nazario, who represents an at-large district in Puerto Rico’s senate and previously served as mayor of the southern town of Yauco, had previously been arrested in September 2018 and charged with alleged payroll irregularities during his 2001-2017 tenure as Yauco’s mayor.

The El Vocero newspaper reported that the new arrests focused on the granting of contracts and payments to contractors who then undertook no work. Attempts to reach Nazario for comment were unsuccessful.

FBI spokesperson Limary Cruz-Rubio said that the San Juan office could confirm that 8 people were arrested without incident early Wednesday in different parts of the island and that the U.S. Attorney in Puerto Rico would issue a press release later with more details.

Puerto Rico’s senate president, Thomas Rivera Schatz, like Nazario a member of the New Progressive Party, asked Nazario to resign in a statement, saying that while he “recognized the presumption of innocence,” Nazario should “give up his seat and devote all his efforts to the situation he faces in court.”

Puerto Rico’s political class has faced a drumbeat of corruption scandals over the last year. Last week, Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources Secretary Tania Vazquez Rivera resigned after stating that her office had been visited by FBI agents and served with a subpoena for documents.

In July, the island’s former secretary of education and the former chief of its health insurance administration were indicted along with the head of an accounting firm and three others. They face allegations of theft, money laundering and wire fraud. Last month, two Federal Emergency Management Agency officials who oversaw the reconstruction of Puerto Rico’s electrical grid and the former president of Cobra Acquisitions were also arrested on fraud and conspiracy charges linked to recovery efforts from Hurricane Maria.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Deibert in San Juan at mdeibert@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Matthew Bristow at mbristow5@bloomberg.net, William Selway, Christopher DeReza

©2019 Bloomberg L.P.