Puerto Rico Gov. Ricardo Rosselló named Raúl Maldonado Gautier to direct the agencies overseeing taxation and spending.
Maldonado Gautier has been serving as chief financial officer as well as chief of staff for the governor since August. Tuesday's announcement puts him in more direct control of all revenues and all spending. The governor appointed him to serve as the Secretary of the Department of Treasury and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget.
Maldonado Gautier served as Secretary of the Treasury from the start of Rosselló’s administration in January 2017 to August 2018.
He was replaced by Teresita Fuentes,
Maldonado Gautier will also be replacing José Marrero Rosado as director of the Office of Management and Budget.
"I am convinced that the execution of the fiscal plan of the Government of Puerto Rico requires the consolidation of these functions for a more effective execution that results in a true transformation,” Rosselló said Tuesday morning. “This is the way it is done in other jurisdictions in the United States, in what is described as the best government practice.”
The governor said that Marrero Rosado will remain to advise Maldonado Gautier on various projects.
The governor’s appointment came as the El Nuevo Día news website reported Tuesday morning that in July 2018 the Puerto Rico Department of Justice started an investigation of Treasury Department contracts, including one it made with a firm that contracted with a consulting firm owned by Maldonado Gautier's son.
According to El Nuevo Día, Fuentes alerted the Justice Department to the contracts as being possible concerns.
According to El Nuevo Día, Maldonado Gautier said that the contract with the firm associated with his son had been given a dispensation by the Puerto Rico Office of Government Ethics.
After the governor's announcement, the Puerto Rico Oversight Board released a statement praising the further consolidation of power into the hands of a single chief financial officer.
The governor said that Maldonado Gautier would continue as chief of staff for the time being but that the governor would soon announce someone else to hold that position.
