Fernando Tons returns to the Capitol as legislative adviser to Javier Aponte Dalmau

Former representative Fernando Tons, convicted of corruption in 1995 after executing a phantom employee scheme in his legislative office, he will advise the majority spokesman to the Senate, Javier Aponte Dalmau.

Tones was the first legislator in Puerto Rico to go to jail, After pleading guilty to 343 serious charges, for which he received a 17-year prison sentence. He only served one year in prison and the rest on probation. He also had to repay $ 206,536.

It was Aponte Dalmau himself who confirmed Tons’ recruitment to his office due to $ 6,000 monthly as an advisor in legislative processes. The hiring comes after several corruption schemes in the Capitol known as “kickbacks” and at least two ghost employee schemes took place over the past four years.

“Well look, he met a lot of years ago. He has been a consultant in different companies and has his business. I think, in my opinion, that he is a person who complied for a crime, he failed at the time but he has the He is a person with a lot of legislative experience, “Aponte Dalmau told The New Day.

When asked if recruiting Tons somehow sent the wrong message across the country about how a person convicted of corruption is rewarded at the government level, Aponte Dalmau replied that Tons has the right to make a living.

“He failed at one point in the state, but he is a person who has a lot to contribute,” said Aponte Dalmau, who will also have former Rep. Charlie Hernandez as legislative adviser at a rate of $ 5,000 a month. This contract will be charged against the budget of the Rules and Calendar Committee, while Tons ’salary will be charged against the budget of Aponte Dalmau’s legislative office.

Aponte Dalmau recalled that it was his father, the late mayor of Carolina, José Aponte de la Torre, who offered Tons his first work experience after leaving prison when the mayor hired a company to which worked.

“After that I had a personal relationship with him, but no work. It was in this process of the campaign that he helped me in the coordination“Said Aponte Dalmau.

reacts Tons

In an interview with The New Day, Tons said he may have returned to the Capitol much earlier, but does so to advise Aponte Dalmau because of the link his family has.

“I met Javier many years ago and also his father. I was able to work with him because my office is in Carolina. There is an emotion in accepting him after so many years coming back here and is that there is a purpose: I helped Javier in the campaign as a representative and I didn’t work with him because at that time I understood that I could move forward. I worked with him in the campaign because he asked me to but it is also a commitment to his father, who before he died told me that he was always waiting for Javier“Tons said.

“I owe a debt of gratitude to him and his family,” he added.

Tons, who chaired the Housing and Youth Affairs committees, said he understands he enjoys the “affection” of the citizenry and has demonstrated his commitment to Carolina’s senatorial district residents.

He noted that his message to the public is for them to consider why he is returning to the Legislature.

“After 25 years of having gone through this process that I went through and which I catalog as unfair and without going into the merits, the important thing is to which I return here. It is to contribute my knowledge, giving everything of me and the which I have been doing since I left the Legislature, ”he argued, arguing that he has a record of helping people in need, particularly after the passage of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

“People know where I was and what I did, what my job is and my mission,” he said. “I want to help senator and the country … regardless of the situation I went through, I am a person that people know,” he said.