Colon mayor to bite expenses bullet on Monday

One month after the mayor of Colón, Rolando Alex Lee, declared that he would “voluntarily” go to the Electoral General Prosecutor’s Office (FGE) to answer for an investigation against him for alleged use of public funds in politics, the official still has not appeared reports La Prensa

The FGE had summoned him for February 14, but Lee did not attend. The prosecutor in charge of Manuel Del Cid’s case will be waiting for him on Monday, February 21, after he managed to notify him to appear, in a second attempt.

On December 21, when the FGE announced that it had opened an investigation, he said he would go “voluntarily.” A day earlier he had confessed that the local authorities use the mobilization funds (in his case $3,500 a month) to walk in the communities and re-elect themselves to their positions.

Alex Lee has been summoned by the General Electoral Prosecutor’s Office (FGE) to appear this Monday, February 21, as part of an investigation for the alleged use of public funds in politics.

The process originated after the January 20, 2022 declaration that the controversial mobilization expenses are used; otherwise, he added, they “would not win again.”

Lee receives $3,500 a month in transportation expenses, while 13 of the 15 representatives of his district receive $5,000 in that category, according to figures from the Comptroller General.

The exact words of Lee were: “the mobilization expenses are used because here everyone walks in their communities. If not, they won’t win again and the mayor who doesn’t walk, the representative who doesn’t walk, is left losing in his corregimiento”.

Then, a reporter asked him if he was saying that the funds are used to get elected again. His response was: “that is the interpretation that you give it, that mobilization expense we see as a work tool to serve our communities”.

According to the Comptroller, the mobilization expenses for the mayors and representatives of the country cost $1,026,00 a month, or $12.3 million a year.

As a result of the scandal, on January 24 the Comptroller’s Office announced that since January 20 it had ordered the suspension of mobilization expenses and began an investigation into their use. His progress is unknown.

In an interview with La Prensa, the coordinator of the electoral prosecutors of the first jurisdictional district, Luis Guerra, said that Lee said that he would go “voluntarily” to give his statement, but did not appear. He was then issued a citation ticket for February 14, but he did not show up.

But last Wednesday, February 16, the prosecutor in the case, Manuel Del Cid, sent him the second ticket to appear  Monday, at the FGE headquarters on East 54th Street in the capital.

“I don’t think he wants to put himself through the rigors of arrest,” Guerra said.

“He has to come to the Prosecutor’s Office, the rule says that when the investigation is in the hands of the entity that investigates, in this case, the Electoral Prosecutor’s Office, it is not necessary to lift the criminal jurisdiction and we can continue the investigation until necessary. I am sure that Mr. Alex Lee is going to come, ”he clarified.

Expense reports
The FGB has requested reports from the Comptroller and the Treasury Department of the Municipality of Colón on the amounts received by the mayor in mobilization expenses and their breakdown.

In addition, he sent an official letter to the Public Services Authority to certify the videos published by the media in which Lee’s statements that gave rise to the investigations can be heard.

The Electoral Code establishes that the assets and resources of the State must not be used for the benefit of certain candidates or political parties.

Lee has said his words were misconstrued.