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Junta Fiscal

Natalie Jaresko Moves to Puerto Rico and Submits Financial Report (documents)

Natalie Jaresko, the Fiscal Control Board (FCB) executive director, has already moved from her native Ukraine to a permanent residence in Puerto Rico, but the details of her move are still unknown.

'She already moved. It's official. I don't have the exact date or any of the details, but I can ask,' FCB press officer José Cedeño told NotiCel.

Aside from her occasional visits back home, the FCB will also fund Jaresko's visits to New York City and Washington DC, as well as a car, a chauffeur, a security detail, and working tools, such as a laptop and a cell phone.

These expenses are additional to Jaresko's yearly salary of $625,000, which she will be paid for 4 years, according to the contract signed between her and all FCB members.

The FCB published Jaresko's first financial disclosure report yesterday, as well as follow-up reports for all other members and Governor representative Elías Sánchez. The report for Chairman José Carrión III is the only one that shows significant dealings in investment instruments.

Jaresko's report shows that, aside from her work with the Board, she is also keeping her position as chair of the Board of Trustees at the Aspen Institute Kyiv, a 'non-partisan and non-ideological' group that promotes dialogue among Ukrainian leaders. Jaresko disclosed investments for up to $6 million and a mortgage loan of up to $250,000.

Cedeño revealed that Jaresko would attend the Board's eighth public meeting, which was held Friday June30at 8:30 am, at the Miramar Boardroom of the Sheraton Hotel in San Juan. The Board's members were expected to certify Puerto Rico's budget and carefully discuss the allocations for many of the governmental agencies.

Before settling in Puerto Rico, Executive Director Jaresko used to visit the island regularly, according to the contract she signed in late March. Her business-class airfare will be covered by the FCB, and her moving costs will be reimbursed after she submits adequate evidence to Carrión III.

Over the last few months, the FBC chair had asserted that Jaresko's move would be official in June, since she was waiting until the end of her daughter's academic term in Kiev.

With this move, she is in full compliance with her contract, which had set September 5 as the deadline to complete this process.

Currently, Jaresko's social media profiles show no signs that she's living in Puerto Rico, and she has been absent from meetings where she had been expected. As recently as last Monday, for example, the chancellors of the University of Puerto Rico (UPR) had scheduled a meeting with Jaresko to present her with the institution's financial statements. However, the executive did not attend this meeting, and Carrión III went in her stead.

When addressed by the media, José Encarnación, chancellor of UPR in Humacao, asserted that Carrión III told them that Jaresko had not yet relocated permanently to Puerto Rico.

And even though Jaresko's contract says one of her roles will be to establish economic development measures for Puerto Rico, the former Ukrainian Minister of Finance did not attend the FCB's meeting in April either, where this specific subject was addressed.

Back then, FCB Deputy Executive Director Ramón Ruiz Comas decided not to issue any answers to our questions about Jaresko's absence.

Meanwhile, there is no mention of Puerto Rico whatsoever in her social media profiles. Instead, these are still populated mostly with messages and posts about competitions and national holidays in Ukraine. In fact, all messages in her official Facebook and Twitter profiles are written in Ukrainian, so the average Puerto Rican would need a translator to understand them.

Mentions of Puerto Rico have been limited to the local and international newspaper reports published after her appointment in late March and after her first meeting with Governor Ricardo Rosselló Nevares on April 19.

While traveling outside Ukraine, Jaresko has posted messages from Germany and from events in the United States (in Chicago and Washington).

In early June, Jaresko moderated a panel on economy held at the International Conference in Washington DC, which was sponsored by The Aspen Institute Italy. According to her, this event gathered politicians, finance experts, and analysis groups to discuss 'the growing economic uncertainty in a world that is changing rapidly and turbulently.'

Natalie Jaresko (Archive / NotiCel)
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