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Puerto Rico Fiscal Oversight Board Sues Fuel Suppliers

  • Legal action charges overpayments and illicit compensation
  • Alleged actvity centered on island’s state power company
A driver moves safety cones blocking an exit at the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) Palo Seco plant in Palo Seco, Toa Baja, Puerto Rico.

A driver moves safety cones blocking an exit at the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) Palo Seco plant in Palo Seco, Toa Baja, Puerto Rico.

Photographer: Xavier Garcia/Bloomberg

The Congressionally-mandated board that oversees finances for Puerto Rico has sued several companies it alleges took fraudulent payments and compensation from the state power utility.

The Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico charged on Sunday that, between 2012 and 2015, the commodities trading and logistic company Trafigura and the energy and commodities company Vitol supplied the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority “with oil that did not meet the applicable contractual or regulatory specifications, but nonetheless received payment” at the price of the higher quality fuel oil.