Justice records 16 cases of fraud against PUA that linked students to colleges and schools

The candidate for secretary of justice, Domingo Emanuelli, welcomed the recommendation to close a total of 16 cases of fraud to the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Program (PUA), which links high school students.

This was revealed by the official during the public meeting to evaluate his appointment to the Senate.

Senator Gretchen Hau asked Emanuelli, more precisely, the case of the investigated students from Colegio San Ignacio, and the candidate indicated that it was about a single student from that school.

“In this case, we re-investigated him with other prosecutors. I told them to bring me not only that case (from San Ignacio), but others, and they brought 16 cases. Eight from public schools and eight from private schools. I saw the recommendations and evaluated them and for the first time I tell the public that my decision will be to submit them with the same stick … it was not the case. He closes them, “said Emanuelli.

During the public hearing, Emanuelli indicated that the Court refused to prosecute more than 400 such cases, notified by the Police, because they did not have enough evidence.

Previously, the director of the Bank Theft and Fraud Division of the banking institutions within PoliceLieutenant José Ayala claimed that the preliminary investigation showed that students at Colegio San Ignacio de Loyola in San Juan had illegally raised more than $ 12,000.

In fact, the lieutenant said at the time that the mothers of the minors presented two checks to the Department of Labor worth $ 7,458 and $ 6,126, respectively.

In addition, he explained that the statements of one of the minors and his mother claimed that more than 30 students from Colegio San Ignacio had requested federal assistance by placing false information on the PUA website.