Friday, December 29, 2006

by Enrique Martel

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (Reuters): A Puerto Rican judge ruled on Thursday there was not enough evidence for criminal charges against former Gov. Pedro Rossello, accused of falsifying documents to obtain a higher pension.

Justice Secretary Roberto Sanchez Ramos immediately appealed the decision by Judge Ada Lopez and a hearing was set for January 24.

Rossello is president of the opposition New Progressive Party, which supports US statehood for Puerto Rico. He has said the allegations were the result of political persecution by the current administration, which favors the commonwealth status of the US Caribbean territory.

"There's hope for Puerto Rico," Rossello said after the ruling.

At the end of his second gubernatorial term in 2001, Rossello was awarded an annual pension of $52,500 based on 30 years of government service. But investigations found no evidence to support Rossello's claim he worked at a state psychiatric hospital over three summers in the early 1960s.

The months in question were subtracted from his years of service, leaving Rossello nine months shy of completing the full 30 years required for a top-level pension.

The pension was cut to $29,536 a year and Rossello was ordered by the retirement administration to pay back $80,248 in excess pension payments.

"The decision is inexplicable," Sanchez Ramos said of Thursday's ruling. "Nobody will hide the evidence from history and it will be history who will judge him. We hope for justice on January 24."

After losing the gubernatorial election in 2004, Rossello was elected by his party to the Puerto Rico Senate and has stopped collecting the pension.

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