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 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.
