Education Secretary, Eliezer Ramos PareThe manager of the Assistant Secretariat for Technical Education was removed from his duties this Wednesday, Calvin the Pagan The LightWhich is being investigated by the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the United States Department of Education for alleged irregularities in the use of federal funds.
“The officer is being separated from his duties”Confirmed Ramos Parez in an interview with new day, The determination, which is in effect today, implies that Pagan will not be able to perform his career status tasks or access the agency, although he will continue to receive his salary until the investigation is complete and a conclusion is reached.
Ramos Pares acknowledged that “this officer’s office was part of an intervention” carried out this morning by federal agents at the Education Headquarters in Hato Rei. The secretary also acknowledged that “there is a flag about possible acts outside law and order” and ongoing information requirements, although he declined to give other details so as not to affect the investigation.
a source of new day With information about the investigation, he first confirmed that Pagan was the object of the investigation. They also confirmed that Pagan lives in the Parque de las Fuentes condominium in Hato Rey, where experts in forensic examination of electronic equipment such as computers also conducted raids. In the State Department’s Registry of Corporations, Pagan appears as the incorporator and resident agent of a corporation whose address matches an apartment in the condominium above.
This medium communicated directly with the Pagan to receive feedback, but there was no response. Ramos Pares indicated that the manager of technical education did not come to his office at the agency today and did not even answer calls.
“There are employees in my office who have tried to communicate. Till date, we have not had any communication with him.” said the secretary.
This raid comes exactly a year after the former education secretary. Julia KeleheR would be convicted of committing acts of corruption in the agency, a fact that has been added to other investigations and convictions of officials of the agency with the largest budget allocation in the government of Puerto Rico.
“Undoubtedly, this is an additional blow to the image of the Department of Education, to the thousands of officers who work every day in the Department of Education and rise up to give their best,” Ramos Pares said. “It is a blow to the morale of those of us who are within the education department,” he said.
The head of the agency revealed that, through internal procedures, other alleged irregularities have been identified, but he also did not wish to divulge details. “I can assure you that the processes are working, that many of our processes have flagged potential irregularities, that many of these investigations originated from there and that we are going to cooperate until this evil ends, ” They said.
When asked whether any potential irregularities had been identified in Pagan’s management through these internal processes, he replied that “I am not going to go into detail about the investigation and course, a description of the officer’s actions.” It was an exercise he was carrying out till today, when the news of this raid has come to light.”
“There will be an opportunity for Puerto Rico to know where it originates, how the investigation took place, and it will go to trial and analyze what happened. The investigation is ongoing and we will cooperate as long as the series does not reach the last line.Ramos Pares confirmed.
According to the source, the investigation into which the manager is involved is related to the Fed’s use of immediate aid to restart the school operations (restart) programme. Pagan was the director of La Luz Aguas Buenos Vocational School. In 2016, he came to the Caguas Regional Office to work with Human Resources. Then in 2017 the former secretary and was convicted of corruption julia kelenek Appointed him as the Director of Technical Education in the Central Administration of the Agency.
former secretary in 2020 eligio hernandez He was appointed manager to continue directing technical education, which is a regular or career position in the agency. This division is responsible for teaching post-secondary courses of instruction at Puerto Rico’s technical institutions, the School of Die Making and Tooling, and the Puerto Rico Aviation Maintenance Institute (PRAMI-Fajardo).
Restart funding was appropriated after disasters in several states and territories recognized by the federal government under the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, PL 115-123 (February 9, 2018). In the case of Puerto Rico, they refer to Hurricanes Irma and Maria and the consequences of these disasters in the archipelago.
The program provided federal funding to defray expenses related to the reopening, reopening, and re-enrollment of students in primary and secondary schools located in affected areas, including private schools.
