Farinacci's to wait until Saturday

Friday’s hearing against Rep. Luis Farinacci was abruptly postponed until this afternoon.

Scheduled to testify today are the policeman who took the initial domestic violence complaint, Agent Edgardo Márquez, and Marilyn Ortíz, a friend of Farinacci’s wife.
The hearing is slated to start at 1 p.m. in Audience Room 6 at the Luis A. Ferrer building in front of the south side of the Capitol.

The embattled Popular Democratic Party lawmaker was set to appear before the Ethics Committee to defend himself against charges filed by several family members of his still wife, Liza Yahaira Rivera, when the postponement call came.

“I received a call from my lawyer stating that the hearing was postponed until today. I willl not divulge the time of the call but it was early,” Farinacci said.
He also condemned the presence of Ortíz in the proceedings because, according to him, she was never directly involved in the events.

“She was never involved in the procedure. I have no idea why she is there since she was not a witness to anything,” Farinacci said.

He once again sounded optimistic that in the end, the truth would be revealed and that he would be exonerated of all charges.

Chairwoman, New Progressive Party Rep. Liza Fernández, told the Daily Sun that it was Farinacci’s attorneys who requested the postponement.

The cancellation caught the PDP members on the Committee by surprise. According to the ranking PDP member on the Committee, Rep. Carlos ‘Charlie’ Hernández, the postponement was announced during a telephone call from Fernández and not through regular channels.

“I, like all of the members of our delegation received a call in the morning stating that the hearing was postponed until today. They did not give us a reason for the postponement,” Hernández said.

There were questions regarding the status of the PDP members on the Committee.

On Tuesday, Fernández requested that House Speaker Jenniffer González expel Hernández and fellow lawmakers Luis Vega Ramos and Brenda López de Arrarás citing infractions to the confidentially code that covers all hearings of the Committee.

On the same day, Vega and López revealed that the NPP members on the Ethics Committee decided to alter, unilaterally, the contents of a final report that called for the expulsion of NPP Rep. Iván Rodríguez Traverso.

That prompted Fernández to ask for the expulsion. As of press time, González had not ruled on the request.

In the meantime, the PDP delegation wants Fernández to summon Rivera on the basis that she is the only one that can corroborate what was actually said during the telephone call that sparked the domestic violence complaint.

“We were ready to assume our duties on the Committee. We want to give Farinacci due process, but for that we need the full testimony of all people involved,” Vega said.
López echoed her fellow party member’s desire.

“In an open and just process, we need to hear from all the people involved. As of today, the main person, his wife, has refused to talk to us and this is an important part of the procedure,” López said.