By The Star Staff
Two complaints have been filed against Carlos Ortiz Reyes, the current acting chancellor of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) Medical Sciences Campus, with the Government Ethics Office and the Commonwealth Comptroller, accusing him of engaging in corrupt acts.
Ortiz Reyes is one of three candidates competing to become the Medical Sciences Campus chancellor. The UPR governing board is scheduled to vote to select a new Medical Sciences chancellor on Tuesday.
The complaints against Ortiz Reyes, copies of which were obtained by the STAR, were filed last Wednesday, Aug. 16 and allege that a company he owns, IT Group Solutions, received two contracts in 2019 and 2020 with the Comprehensive Cancer Center (CCC) but that Ortiz Reyes, who was a Medical Sciences employee, failed to get a waiver as required under law. The CCC is part of UPR.
According to the complaints, the 2019 contract with the CCC was signed by former CCC Executive Director Luis A. Clavel and the 2020 contract by CCC Executive Director Marcia Cruz Correa.
Under the contracts’ clause 23.2, the contracting party states that neither it nor its workers have a regular position in any government entity, that they do not receive payment for services rendered under an appointment to any government entity, and that they do not have any other contract with any other government entity, according to the complaints.
Ortiz Reyes did not answer a request for comment from the STAR through his Linkedin page. Reacting to the story about the complaint published by another media outlet, Ortiz Reyes’ executive assistant, Rosa Martínez, denied the allegations.
The reaction, posted in Ortiz Reyes’ Facebook page, noted that neither Act 100 of 1956, the Law for the Contracting of Public Workers by the University of Puerto Rico Outside Working Hours, nor Act 1 of 2012, the Government Ethics Law, apply to the situation.
Martínez also said Act 237 of 2004, the Professional Services Contracting Law, applies to individuals and not corporations.
“Although these acts contrary to the law and of flagrant corruption have been denounced previously and published in media outlets, it seems that the oversight authorities charged with watching for deviations from the laws and regulations in this case have not been warned nor have they received information about these facts,” the complaints said.
Along with Ortiz Reyes, the candidates for the Medical Sciences campus chancellor position are Natalio Izquierdo and Ilka Ríos. The latter was nominated by UPR President Luis Ferrao Delgado.