Senate PDP threatens court action over cases closed by Justice Department.

By THE STAR STAFF

Popular Democratic Party (PDP) Senate Minority Leader Luis Javier Hernández Ortiz said Wednesday that his legal team is evaluating going to court after the island Justice Department refused to provide information to the Senate about the 229 cases under investigation that were closed, without knowing what they were and under what criteria they were archived.

“... [O]n May 4th we submitted information request 2026-0063, in which we essentially requested that the Senate be provided with the list of cases filed in the Public Integrity and Comptroller Affairs Division [DIPAC by its acronym in Spanish] since the adoption of Administrative Order No. 2025-09,” the senator said.

Hernández Ortiz added that the details of the closure and filing order in the Suzanne Roig Fuertes case involving a $60,000 monthly contract were sent to the Senate.

“If it could be done in that case, why can’t they send it for the other cases?” he said. “In our opinion, the Justice Department’s actions show that something is being hidden. What case did they close that they don’t want the country to know about? Who are they trying to hide, are they looking to protect?”

Under Justice Department Administrative Order 2025-09, it was stipulated that all cases pending final determination before the DIPAC in which two years had elapsed since the investigation began, would be elevated to the agency secretary for a final decision and determination. 

“What is the Department of Justice’s basis for adopting this order?” Hernández Ortiz said. “They say that the comptroller, through an audit, indicated that there were cases in DIPAC that were between two and 11 years old. And that, given this, it was necessary to adopt this order. The truth is that the Comptroller’s Office never said that a deadline had to be set to halt or paralyze the investigations and escalate this to the secretary of justice.” On Tuesday, Deputy Justice Secretary Annette Esteves Serrano insisted that the department “acts strictly guided by due process, applicable regulations and the unwavering protection of constitutional guarantees.”

Esteves Serrano said the legislative request to obtain information on 229 archived cases constitutes an indiscriminate request and is incompatible with the criteria of reasonableness, relevance and legitimate purpose that govern legislative investigative power.