Rivera Schatz urges chief of staff, treasury chief to deliver requested documents.

Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz

By THE STAR STAFF

Senate President Thomas Rivera Schatz said Monday that he is prepared to go “to the fullest extent” to obtain the information requested by the Committee of the Whole from the La Fortaleza Chief of Staff Francisco Domenech Fernández and Treasury Secretary Ángel Pantoja Rodríguez.

Domenech had until midnight Monday to provide data from the Lobbyist Registry and information on government contracts, while the Treasury Department has until today to provide tax information on government contractor Antonio Sagardía de Jesús.

In response to questions from the press, Rivera Schatz stated, “They can say whatever they want, they can do whatever they want, and we respect that, but there is nothing better than a clear conscience and having the moral authority to demand it.”

“There is nothing better than that, and they know it: that we are going to insist, so I am in no hurry,” the Senate president added. “They can run, run, run, and run, but they won’t be able to escape.”

Rivera Schatz also indicated that the Treasury Department, through the Department of Justice, could appeal the ruling ordering the release of Sagardía’s information. Last Friday, the San Juan Court of First Instance ordered Pantoja Rodríguez to hand over Sagardía’s tax information within 48 hours, and Judge Iris L. Cancio González warned that noncompliance could result in civil contempt of court.

“I imagine they will appeal,” Rivera Schatz said. “I have no problem prevailing again in the Appeals Court because the legal arguments they are presenting are unfounded.”

He also said that the treasury secretary, whom he described as “a good person” and “his friend,” believes “fairness must be done for the taxpayer.”

“Defending the taxpayer also means that when someone tries to take advantage of the system with their taxes [...] the taxpayer needs to understand that there are no privileges for anyone, not for Antonio Sagardía, not for Verónica Ferraiuoli, not for me, not for anyone,” Rivera Schatz said. “That’s what it means to do justice for the taxpayer.”

The Senate president also did not rule out requesting additional information, issuing new summonses, and submitting referrals once he receives the documents requested from Domenech, given the “voluminous” nature of the information.

“He asked for until the 15th, and we gave him until the 20th, so I estimate that they will deliver it during the day,” he said, adding that once he receives the documents, he will make them public -- “all the documents.”

“I am going to ask the secretariat to digitize them or somehow put them on the website, so that anyone who wants to review them can do so,” Rivera Schatz said.