2023 Laws of Puerto Rico › TITLE TEN - Commerce (§§ 1 — 4196) › Subtitle 1 - Regulation of Business Generally (§§ 1 — 998q) › Chapter 13 - Monopolies and Restraint of Trade (§§ 251 — 276) › § 271 - Powers and duties of the Secretary of Justice

(1) The Secretary of Justice is hereby empowered to appoint the Assistant Secretary and the attorneys assigned to the Office of Monopolistic Affairs hereinafter created, as special prosecutors. Each such official so appointed shall have all the powers and authority of a district attorney, and may act as such before any Section of the Court of First Instance in any criminal case in which a violation of any of the provisions of this chapter is charged.
(2) Every person summoned as a witness by any of the said attorneys shall be bound to appear and testify or to present such books, files, correspondence, documents and any other kind of evidence demanded from said person in any criminal investigation, proceeding or suit relating to this chapter. Any person may be required, in addition to his personal appearance, or in lieu thereof, to place at the disposal of the officers of the Department of Justice, in the site of his business, for inspection copy or reproduction, any documentary or other evidence of the type above set forth. The material thus obtained by the attorneys of the Department of Justice may be used by said department in any proceeding authorized by this chapter. To investigate any violation of this chapter, not criminally punishable, the Secretary of Justice, or the officers referred to in subsection (1) of this section, may issue a civil summons to any person to obtain, under fair and just conditions, the necessary evidence to such ends, either through the giving of oral testimony or the presentation of documents or other evidence under the control of the person summoned. When a person fails to comply with a civil summons so issued he may be required to comply with the same through the proceeding provided in § 273 of this title. The information obtained under the authority granted in this section shall be kept in strict confidence, except insofar as it may be necessary to use it for the purposes of any judicial action on the part of the state.
(3) Every person who, after having been summoned as a witness as above provided, fails to appear or, having appeared, refuses to answer any question, without legal excuse, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall upon conviction be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars ($500) or by imprisonment not exceeding six (6) months, or by both penalties, in the discretion of the court. Every person who, in violation of the provisions of the preceding paragraph, shall refuse to present or to permit the inspection of any book, files, correspondence, documents or other evidence required of him to be presented, or which he has been ordered to permit the inspection of; or who voluntarily removes from its customary place, hides, destroys, mutilates, alters or in any way falsifies any document required for presentation or inspection pursuant to the provisions of the preceding paragraph, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, entitled to a jury trial, and upon conviction, punished by a fine not less than five thousand dollars ($5,000) nor more than fifty thousand dollars ($50,000) or by imprisonment not exceeding two (2) years, or by both penalties, in the discretion of the court.
History —June 25, 1964, No. 77, p. 235, § 15; June 8, 1973, No. 131, p. 525, § 1.