The most serious political crisis to hit Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González's young administration escalated this week, with two senior officials trading allegations of corruption and undue influence.
The turmoil dates back to last month, when Puerto Rico's head of economic development resigned and accused the governor's top aide of interfering with an investigation tied to allegations of bid rigging in a federally funded procurement process.
On Thursday, González's chief of staff, Francisco Domenech, fired back, submitting sworn statements to Puerto Rico's Justice Department and Office of Government Ethics accusing Sebastián Negrón Reichard, the former secretary of the Department of Economic Development and Commerce, of corruption and conflicts of interest.
Both men have denied the allegations against them.
"The most troubling aspect of what happened today is not the attack against me personally, but the message it sends to every public servant who witnesses irregularities and decides to report them," Negrón said in a statement released Thursday.
Domenech defended his allegations against Negrón during a televised appearance, saying he "examined all the documentation" and "conducted all the interviews [he] needed to conduct."
The fallout of the widening rift has reached Washington, where Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah questioned González on Capitol Hill earlier in the week.
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