2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE THREE - Executive (§§ 1 — 9311) › Chapter 7 - Department of Justice (§§ 71 — 139-139f) › Subchapter IV - Special Independent Prosecutor (§§ 99h — 99aa) › § 99q - Special Independent Prosecutor’s Panel—Designation, Powers, and Faculties

(1) The Governor of Puerto Rico shall designate, with the advice and consent of a majority of the total number of members of the Senate and the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico, three (3) official members with experience in the field of criminal law. These three (3) members shall constitute the Panel and shall be selected from among former Supreme Court justices, or former judges of the Court of Appeals or the Court of First Instance. Likewise, the Governor of Puerto Rico shall also designate, from among former Supreme Court justices or former judges of the Court of Appeals or the Court of First Instance, two (2) alternate members who shall be part of the Panel in the event of abstention or other circumstances that prevent any of the official members from discharging their duties. Regular members shall designate the Panel Chair from among them. The Panel shall be denominated the “Special Independent Prosecutor’s Panel.”
(2) The Panel Chair shall be the executive officer who shall supervise the administration and management of the Office. The Panel shall adopt the rules that shall govern the designation of an Acting Chair in the event of temporary absence of the Chair. The Panel Chair shall have the same rights and duties as the other Panel members in terms of decisions and votes regarding cases or matters referred to the attention of said Collegiate Body. The Panel Chair or his delegate shall have the power to:
(a) Organize the Office and appoint or hire personnel as are necessary to discharge the functions and duties established by law in accordance with the criteria that shall ensure the rendering of services and the compliance with the ministerial duties subject to the regulations approved by the Office.
(b) Acquire real and personal property through lawful means including, but not limited to, the acquisition by purchase, lease, lease with purchase option, bequest, or gift; as well as to own, preserve, use, or dispose of any property, whether real or personal, improved or not, or any asset, right, or interest thereon, in the manner deemed to be most effective, efficient, and necessary for the benefit of the Office.
(c) Enter into contracts and execute any instruments as are necessary and convenient to attain the objectives and purposes of the Office.
(d) Approve regulations as are necessary to exercise the powers conferred by this Act.
(e) Take any other administrative or managerial action or measure as is necessary and convenient to achieve the purposes of this Act.
(3) Panel members shall serve for a term of ten (10) years. Persons thus designated shall not be appointed for more than one (1) consecutive term. In the event of a vacancy before the expiration of the ten (10)-year term, the new appointment shall be for a ten (10)-year term. The terms served by alternate members shall not be counted against them in case they are designated as official members. Panel members whose appointment terms have expired shall continue to hold office until their successors are appointed and take office.
This ten (10)-year term shall be extended to Panel members who are in office on the date of the approval of this Act and shall be computed as of the date on which they were sworn in, upon confirmation by the Senate and the House of Representatives.
(4) In case of vacancy, the Governor shall make a new appointment for a ten (10)-year term.
(5) The Panel’s decisions shall be made by a simple majority.
(6) Panel members shall be entitled to a two hundred dollars ($200) per diem for each day or fraction thereof they perform the tasks entrusted to them by the Panel or Panel Chair regarding the duties established hereunder. Said per diem shall be exempt from the tax imposed under Act No. 1-2011, as amended, known as the “Internal Revenue Code for a New Puerto Rico.” Panel members shall be entitled to reimbursement for any necessary expenditures incurred while discharging their duties, responsibilities, or official business inside or outside the jurisdiction of Puerto Rico, subject to the regulations adopted therefor by the Panel.
(7) Panel members shall be deemed to be public officials with respect to their actions in the discharge of their duties, obligations, and prerogatives under this Act. Members shall have quasi-judicial immunity in their individual capacity while discharging their duties. Moreover, they shall have the same immunity granted to the members of the executive cabinet. Within the extent of their duties, they shall be entitled to request and receive legal representation and protection pursuant to Act No. 104 of June 29, 1955, as amended.
(8) Panel members shall not intervene in any other civil, administrative, or criminal matter having common or similar elements that cause or seem to cause a conflict of interest with any matter that is or may be under their jurisdiction.
(9) Panel members shall not enter into contracts to provide legal representation in matters or cases that entail litigation against an Agency, municipality or the Legislative or Judicial Branches, while they are Panel members. This prohibition shall not include entering into training, advisory or consulting services, contracts with any agency, municipality, or the Legislative or Judicial Branches; serving as professor in the University of Puerto Rico and its campuses; serving as an expert, special commissioner in the Judicial Branch in any civil, administrative, or criminal case or matter; or intervening as mediator or arbitrator in any matter under the consideration of said public entities. The exemptions set forth in Sections 3.3(d) and (e) of Act No. 12 of July 24, 1985, as amended, known as the “Puerto Rico Government Ethics Act,” shall also apply. In order to safeguard the independence of this Office, any dispensations requested under Section 3.3(d) and (e) by any official of this Office shall be evaluated by the Government Ethics Office, which shall issue the appropriate determination under the regulations adopted.
History —Feb. 23, 1988, No. 2, p. 4, § 10; Nov. 10, 1998, No. 276, § 1; July 19, 2005, No. 24, § 1; Jan. 3, 2012, No. 4, § 3.