Feds Indict Puerto Rican Governor in Finance Probe

Look into campaign funds yields 19 counts
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 27, 2008 11:46 AM CDT
Feds Indict Puerto Rican Governor in Finance Probe
Puerto Rico's Gov. Anibal Acevedo Vila greets supporters in this July 25, 2006 file photo.    (AP Photo/Andres Leighton)

Puerto Rican Gov.Anibal Acevedo Vila was indicted today on 19 counts, including election fraud and conspiracy to violate federal campaign-finance laws, the AP reports. Vila and 12 associates are accused of breaking rules in financing the 2000 campaign that saw Vila elected the territory's Washington rep. Vila says the charges, and the probe that spawned them, are politically motivated.

''This action … is the result of three years of leaks, rumors, and spectacle designed to harm me,'' Vila said in a statement—an argument supported by many Puerto Ricans who resent US rule. Vila was not arrested and will be allowed to turn himself in tomorrow “in deference to his position,” a US attorney said. (More Puerto Rico stories.)

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