Upon her departure from the Department of Justice after an extensive interrogation, the former head of the Administration for Socioeconomic Family Development (ADSEF) Blanca Medina Díaz stated on Thursday that governor Jenniffer González is lying when she explained why she ordered the reinstatement of Juan Avilés as deputy administrator of the agency while pressure was being exerted on her to award contracts.

“That’s a lie, a lie”, Medina Díaz told reporters.

At the conclusion of a press conference in Río Piedras and while Medina Díaz was testifying in court, the governor acknowledged that she had called the former head of ADSEF to order her to reinstate Avilés as deputy administrator, claiming that he had been removed for having supported Pedro Pierluisi in the primary of the New Progressive Party for governor in 2020.

“Yes, she (Medina Díaz) fired the agency’s second-in-command (Avilés) because he was with Pierluisi, and I called her to ask her to reinstate the agency’s second-in-command, who is a trusted employee. And I am the Governor of Puerto Rico, and that deputy had indeed been with Pierluisi during the primary, but he was the one actually doing the work. And I’m not going to get caught up in this ‘whether he’s with Pierluisi or whether he was with me’ business. I have a job to do here, and that official was handling the coordination at the meetings she didn’t attend,” González said.

“Are you surprised that the governor said that, or did you expect it?”, Medina Díaz was asked.

“No, I’m not surprised at all”, replied the former official, who retired from government service after 35 years.

Medina Díaz testified yesterday, Wednesday, under oath, before the Senate Committee on Family, Women, Senior Citizens, and People with Functional Diversity and Disabilities, that she had removed Avilés from his position because he was among those who allegedly were harassing her to award contracts to the companies NOLA Education, to implement the Star Academy program, and Strategic Technology Advisors, to create a training platform, using federal funds from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program.

She also stated that she had reported the “problems” at Adsef to the governor and the former Chief of Staff Francisco Domenech, but nothing came of it.

In response, González stated: “I deeply regret the former administrator’s remarks, but once a person is removed from office, many of these accusations tend to surface; yet when they are in office, none of these remarks are ever made. Why didn’t she go to all these federal agencies earlier? Why didn’t she make all these accusations before?,” she asked.

Incidentally, the governor said she “loves” Medina Díaz “very much” and is “very grateful” to her for having served as her campaign coordinator in Caguas. “She helped me a lot,” she said.

She then defended the Secretary of Family Affairs, Suzanne Roig, who has rejected Medina Díaz’s allegations. She also reiterated the secretary’s argument that no contract was formalized.

“The secretary was clear yesterday (Wednesday) in her remarks,” said González, who expressed support for “conducting all necessary investigations.” “The secretary of the Department of Family Services will continue to do her job,” she added.

González also defended the process that the agency followed to evaluate the three companies invited to participate in the competitive bidding process, which was ultimately awarded to NOLA Education, even though one of them, Coccoloba AgroEnvironmental, has stated that it declined to participate and was nonetheless included.

“They responded to the invitation sent by the Department of Family Services. In the end, the Department followed ‘due process,’” she pointed out.

Medina Díaz spent more than five hours testifying before the Public Integrity Division and the Office of the Comptroller of Justice, and upon leaving, she expressed confidence that the “truth” would come to light.

“Rest assured, the truth always comes out”, she said when asked what message he wanted to send to the country.

She replied “yes” when reporters asked her if she felt she had contributed to the preliminary assessment conducted by the Justice Department and if they had listened to her.

Previously, Mediana Díaz had appeared to testify before Office of the Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

Earlier this Thursday, Prosecutor Ernesto Cabrera, director of the Division of Public Integrity and the Office of the Comptroller, clarified that Medina Díaz was summoned as a witness, as part of the preliminary investigation he is conducting following a referral sent by the Senate regarding alleged irregularities at ADSEF.

“A referral made by the President of the Senate, the Honorable Thomas Rivera Schatz, regarding certain contracts with ADSEF. Currently, this matter is in the preliminary evaluation stage, in accordance with the FEI Act (Office of the Panel on the Independent Special Prosecutor, Opfei) and the provisions it entails and the applicable terms. “We have a preliminary assessment. What that means is that we have 15 business days to conduct an assessment and, from there, determine what the next step will be,” Cabrera said, while Medina Díaz was inside the Justice Department.

“As part of this process, Ms. Blanca Medina has been summoned this morning (Thursday) so that she can provide us with information to help us evaluate the matter. She is appearing as a witness,” he added.

Medina Díaz arrived at the Justice Department headquarters at around 9:20 a.m. and made no comments.

Cabrera indicated, meanwhile, that he would conduct the interrogation.

He declined to specify, however, who else would be summoned for questioning, even when asked if Roig would be summoned. “I can’t go into details about who has or hasn’t been interviewed,” he said.

Rather, he indicated that the preliminary evaluation must be completed by October 22 and that, by that date, they must notify the Opfei whether or not they will launch an investigation, which could lead to the appointment of an independent special prosecutor.

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This content was translated from Spanish to English using artificial intelligence and was reviewed by an editor before being published.