国际英语资讯:Firestorm over questionable 300 mln USD contract to restore Puerto Rico power

DENVER, the United States, Oct. 27 -- The handing of a 300 million U.S. dollars, no-bid contract to a two-man, tiny company based in Montana to fix Puerto Rico's electrical lines has flooded the American media with cries of impropriety.

"Appalled," was the word used Friday by a U.S. congressman about the terms of a lucrative contract given to Whitefish Energy, a two-year-old business, to return power to the hurricane-ravaged Caribbean island of 3.4 million residents.

Elijah Cummings, a Maryland congressman and former Illinois anti-corruption top prosecutor, was referring to a "no-audit" clause in the contract between Whitefish and Puerto Rico's main power company (PREPA).

That clause prohibits any accountability or government oversight for expenses by Whitefish - plus allows outrageous daily fees for Whitefish employees - and was referred to as a "backroom deal" by Cummings.

Cummings' demand for a full investigation to the U.S. House Committee on Government Oversight and Reform joined a chorus of complaints and calls for hearings from both political sides.

A copy of the controversial contract between Whitefish and the PREPA was leaked online three days before Cummings' remarks, creating a new surge of doubt and outrage over a deal already under fire.

Carmen Yulin Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico's capitol, said the deal with Whitefish should be "voided" after news broke about the company's size and inexperience. However, Whitefish spokesman Chris Chiames dismissed and dodged criticism Friday.

"We are taking personal risks and business risks working in perilous physical and financial conditions," he told Montana Public Radio, then ended the cell-phone interview abruptly when asked about money Whitefish was receiving from the federal government.

"Hello...red flag," said political analyst David Richardson. "It is typical graft and corruption," he told Xinhua.

Rather than reaching out to mainland utilities under a mutual assistance pact, or securing competitive bids... Whitefish jumped on the deal, fabricated ridiculous numbers and pushed it through behind everybody's back, said Richardson, a policy analyst on Capitol Hill in the 1980s.

"If this was a Democratic Administration every conservative in America would be screaming 'foul' at the top of their lungs," he said.

"The carping by others is unfounded, and we stand by our work and our commitment to the people of Puerto Rico," countered Chaimes, a new spokesperson for Whitefish - whose headquarters is a remote Montana ranch house, CBS News reported Friday.

Whitewater officials said this week the company has 300 workers on the ground with more arriving each day - more than a month after Hurricane Maria left the island completely powerless.

"First of all, let's get one thing straight - Whitefish has no employees - these are all journeymen or unemployed electricians hired as subcontractors who are looking for work," business teacher Douglas Hubscher told Xinhua.

"Whitefish sent out an email blast recruiting any and every chump electrician they can find...who knows who is working on the lines down there and even if they are qualified," Hubscher asked.

The Whitefish-PREPA contract revealed that Whitefish is charging 412.23 U.S. dollars a day per electrician for room and board, and 15,450 U.S. dollars an hour for helicopter services.

Hubscher, a Tulane University educated businessman, owns a house in Costa Rica and travels frequently to the Caribbean.

"You're talking about the poorest country imaginable," Hubscher said of Puerto Rico, "The cost to house and feed a person is about 5 dollars a day there, max...so Whitefish is reaping an 800 percent profit per person per day. That's rapacious."

If Whitefish makes 400 U.S. dollars a day profit on each of its 400 workers they are making 160,000 U.S. dollars a day profit, according to Hubscher.

"So the company is fleecing the U.S. taxpayer at least 5 million dollars a month," Hubscher noted, "not to mention 1,000 dollars for each electrician to fly there - another bogus number."

But those numbers will never get Whitefish in trouble thanks to a contract that says no one has "the right to audit or review the cost or profit elements of the labor rates," a clause allowing a "misuse or waste of federal funds," according to Cummings.

"This is as gross as it gets," Richardson said. "And this is what they do (the Trump Administration) after ignoring the crisis on the island following the hurricane? Have they no shame?" he questioned.

At least 50 people died from the hurricane and only 25 percent of the island's electricity has been restored thus far.

Earlier in the week it was also revealed that Interior Secretary Ryan Zincke and Whitefish CEO Andy Techmanski are good friends and neighbors living in a tiny Montana town.

"They live in a town of 7,000 people where everyone knows everyone," a Whitefish spokesmen said. "We secured this work with PREPA on our own."

"Are there only two contractors in the entire United States that can bid on this electrical rebuilding project? Seems unlikely," asked Al Rickard, a Republican strategist since 1982.

"Also, the scale of the project far exceeds anything this company has ever done before, so it's a shot in the dark, with the likelihood of tax dollars being wasted," said Rickard, who worked with the Young Republicans during the Reagan years.

"As for the company being in Whitefish, this seems like an all-too-convenient coincidence," Rickard told Xinhua.

"Seems like slam-dunk nepotism run amok. Stinks like (White)fish!" Rickard said.

Both the White House and Zincke have scrambled away from the bubbling imbroglio, despite revelations that the secretary's son worked for Whitefish last summer.

Even President Trump, after bashing the mayor of San Juan for her lack of appreciation for the emergency relief efforts, has been silent about "the contract" on Twitter.

"This was a contract that was determined by the local authorities in Puerto Rico," White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Friday.

Sanders distanced President Trump from the 300 million U.S. dollar deal, although admitting that the president "did ask Secretary Zincke (about it)...just for clarification purposes."

"He reiterated once again that we had no role -- the federal government -- and specifically he (Secretary Zincke) had no role in that contract," Sanders said.

The contract also says the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) "reviewed and approved" the agreement.

FEMA said in a statement Friday it was "not involved" and any language that says it was "is inaccurate."

Also Friday, Cruz continued her indignation over the clouded deal by re-tweeting a post from fellow Puerto Rican Armando Valdes.

Valdes wrote to Whitefish: "You just don't get it. We see you as leeches. Work is 'important' for you because it'll make you millionaires while keeping us in the dark."