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(CNN) - Federal prosecutors accused one of the main officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, in charge of Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017 of conspiracy to commit bribes and fraud for allegedly accepting gifts and favors and direct recovery work in favor of a contractor on the island.
Ahsha Nateef Tribble, FEMA deputy regional administrator in charge of restoring electricity on the island, is accused of taking helicopter trips and hotel rooms from the president of the contracting company Cobra Acquisitions LLC, while “influencing, advising and exercising pressure ”on FEMA and the local energy authority to grant restoration contracts, worth almost $ 2 billion, to the company.
“The defendants were supposed to go to Puerto Rico to help during the recovery after the devastation suffered by Hurricane Maria. Instead, they decided to take advantage of the precarious conditions of our electric power grid and got involved in a scheme of bribery and electronic fraud services to enrich themselves illegally, ”said federal prosecutor Rosa Emilia Rodríguez-Vélez.