Agents of the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) of the Department of Education of the United States carried out a raid this morning in the Education department of Puerto Rico (DE) and in the apartment of an agency official.
The spokeswoman for the federal Inspector General of Education (OIG-USDE, for its acronym in English), Catherine Grant, told The new day what “The OIG can confirm that we are executing a search warrant in the area.”
However, he added that “that is all we can share at this time. As per our policy, we do not discuss details of our work in progress. Our policy has always been to protect and maintain the integrity of our efforts.”
Usually, when federal authorities intervene or raid an agency, it is to look for evidence of an active investigation.
For his part, the secretary of the DE, Eliezer Ramos Paresalso did not want to detail what the “information request” is about, but assured that his administration cooperates with the investigation.
“This is an ongoing investigation. This server as with other investigations will be collaborating. We’re going to give federal authorities full access. We have been in conversation with them throughout the morning, we are going to continue it during the day, until this investigation is completed, “said Ramos Parés.
He added that “collaboration with the OIG is routine every day. In this case, the Inspector General has come to take original documents to continue investigations. Yes, today’s visit takes me by surprise, it is not customary for there to be prior notices, but they have been kind enough to update me”.
“The important thing is that they know that we as a Department, as an institution, are going to ensure the integrity of the institution so that the processes are complied with and what is wrong, we will also point it out.”
The secretary also did not want to specify in which office the search was carried out “because it could affect” the investigation. “Yes, I can tell you that we are going to be in total collaboration and that the result of that investigation will be known by Puerto Rico.”
“I am not going to go into specific details of the investigation. Yes, I can tell you that the procedures in the Department of Education work and that the staff is responding, that any act that is outside the laws, rules and regulations will not be tolerated, ”he added.
Agents from the OIG of the United States Department of Health also attend the operation, he noted. The new day. However, Federal Health does not participate in the investigation, but cooperates with the operation, according to a memorandum of understanding that exists between the OIGs of the different federal agencies.
Feds raid apartment
Meanwhile, starting at 7:30 in the morning, a group of federal agents arrived at the Parques de la Fuente condominium in Hato Rey to search the apartment of a DE official.
This medium was able to observe the agents of the Office of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI, for its acronym in English).
The new day He learned that they are HSI specialists who are experts in forensic investigations of electronic equipment, such as computers, who verify equipment in one of the apartments of the housing complex, as part of the same investigation that led to the search in the Department of Education.