El negocio de los estorbos

Although municipalities and private individuals have filed dozens of lawsuits against Universal Properties seeking repayment and alleging breach of contract, five mayors awarded new contracts to a company tied to Universal’s management.

Universal Properties Realty, which handled public nuisances in 22 municipalities, did not deposit the buyers’ money in an escrow account and is not responding to them now.

The Francis & Gueits law firm also lost its contract with the Municipality of Caguas’ public nuisance program.

Legislative advisors who have also been members of the Popular Democratic Party Governing Board are consultants to the company referred to the Department of Justice for its business deals with municipalities.

In Puerto Rico, 22 municipalities have contracted the services of Universal Properties Realty Government Services.

Citizens are defenseless before a pattern in which mayors have given free rein to a group of companies to manage declarations of public nuisances, appraisals, legal representation in expropriation processes, and sales of expropriated properties.

The Municipality of Caguas canceled the contract with Universal Properties Realty Government Services, LLC., after an internal investigation confirmed irregularities in the process of declaring public nuisances and their sale by that company in Caguas, said Mayor William Miranda Torres in an interview with the Center for Investigative Journalism.

The sale of the properties, for which the municipalities got ownership and control through forced expropriation to third parties, is not transparent. The expropriation and purchase agreements that Universal Properties drafts on behalf of the municipality with a “purchasing applicant” are not submitted to the Office of the Comptroller.