Ex-prosecutor calls for PFEI prosecutor to recuse herself after sharing column on case under investigation

Former prosecutor Ernie Cabán (Facebook via Lcdo Ernie Cabán - Página Oficial)

By THE STAR STAFF

Former prosecutor Ernie Cabán argued that Special Independent Prosecutor (FEI by its initials in Spanish) Ileana Agudo should recuse herself from the investigation involving the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC) after she shared on her social media a column that described the controversy between La Fortaleza Chief of Staff Francisco Domenech Fernández and former DDEC secretary Sebastián Negrón Reichard as “gossip.”

Cabán said Agudo’s actions could undermine public confidence in the impartiality of the process, noting that she appeared to express an opinion about a matter currently under her investigation.

“It seems to me that the special independent prosecutor should recuse herself motu proprio, because she clearly spoke about the merits of an issue under her consideration,” Cabán said in a radio interview on “Pega’os en la Mañana.” “That affects credibility and trust. And if she does not do so as an act of prudence, then the [FEI] panel, in its supervisory role, should take some action and discuss this with the prosecutor.” 

Agudo reportedly shared an excerpt from a column by journalist Mario Ramos, which stated:

“Unlike the public controversy between the Chief of Staff, Francisco Domenech, and the former secretary of Economic Development and Commerce, Sebastián Negrón Reichard -- which at this moment meets all the requirements of neighborhood gossip -- the matter involving the referred former officials is indisputably serious. At least in the narrative Negrón Reichard offered about alleged interventions by Domenech, there is no clear and undeniable commission of crimes. It is a contest of suppositions that reminded me of stories from previous administrations.”

Popular Democratic Party (PDP) Sen. Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz said in an interview that the party, currently in the legislative minority, may eventually push to eliminate or restructure the FEI Panel, asserting that the entity “has become a subcommittee of the [governing] New Progressive Party.”

“The country has less confidence in the FEI Panel, and the same is true of the Department of Justice,” the PDP Senate minority leader said. “Unfortunately, both agencies -- tasked with combating corruption -- do everything except that, and federal agents have had to assume that jurisdiction.”

Hernández Ortiz added that other U.S. jurisdictions use mechanisms that are “more agile, less costly, and completely impartial,” and suggested that Puerto Rico should evaluate those models.