Former PREPA executive director Mary Carmen Zapata Acosta testified under oath Monday that Energy Czar Josué Colón knew about every stage of the failed $5.9 billion Power Expectations contract — directly contradicting Colón’s own earlier testimony that he was largely uninvolved.
Zapata Acosta told the House Government Commission that she kept Colón updated regularly by text message and Telegram, and that communications she signed related to the process were copied to him. “Engineer Colón did know about the process and where we stood, because at the very least I gave him status updates on what we were doing,” she testified.
She maintained, however, that she did not know at the time she signed the contract on June 10 that a signature controversy existed — an allegation that Jobadiah “Joby” Sinclair Weeks, a representative of Enchanted Rock, had not been authorized to sign on the company’s behalf as part of the Power Expectations consortium. “If I had known about the questions regarding the signatures, I would not have signed until the signature issue was clarified,” she said.
Zapata Acosta also testified that Domenech, then-secretary of the Governor’s Office, convened a meeting at La Fortaleza on July 28 with her and Colón to follow up on project delays, followed by a second meeting the next day at PREPA headquarters that brought in the contract’s principals — Power Expectations, Flotek and Reyes Contractor. She said she referred the broader controversy to the Department of Justice, the FBI and other oversight agencies before resigning as PREPA’s executive director on Sept. 3. The committee has given her five days to turn over copies of the phone messages she has retained.
Commission Chairman Víctor Parés Otero said Colón’s account conflicts with both Zapata’s and 3PPO president Osvaldo Carlo’s prior testimony, and that lawmakers are preparing a preliminary report to evaluate the inconsistencies.
Related coverage: Judge Swain Takes Over Power Expectations Lawsuit · OPFEI Adds Third Prosecutor to Widening Domenech Corruption Investigation
Free to join: Become a Community Member to post classifieds, submit events, and comment on stories.
Sources: El Nuevo Día, NotiCel, Telemundo Puerto Rico, wapa.tv
