By Gloria Ruiz Kuilan
The governor of Puerto Rico, Pedro Pierluisi, disassociated himself this Monday from the Canadian citizen arrested by federal authorities in Puerto Rico, Conor Vincent D’Monte, who is the co-founder of the non-profit organization Karma Honey Project, which rescued a hive of bees from La Fortaleza and who was named in an official statement from the local government.
The first executive said he did not know the subject who lived in Puerto Rico under the false name of Johnny Williams. Likewise, he denied having held meetings with him or having been in any activity in which the now arrested man was present. D’Monte is wanted for multiple violent crimes, including murder, in Canada.
Now then, the governor revealed that the Karma Honey Project worked with a bee hive in La Fortaleza.
“In Fortaleza we support agriculture, including beekeeping. What happened here is that in Fortaleza, a long time ago, a swarm of bees was detected and the initiative was taken to relocate it to a hive, and that non-profit entity and the person you mention, among others, collaborated in this effort”, explained the governor.
In a press release from La Fortaleza del February, the dangerous Canadian fugitive is quoted by his assumed name, along with another beekeeper, talking about the effects of not having bees.
“The beekeeper and co-founder of the Karma Honey Project, Jonathan Williams, and the beekeeper who works this hive, David Lozada Negrón, expressed that a world without bees “would be catastrophic” because the lack of pollination. Lozada Negrón explained that bees are responsible for the pollination of 80 percent of food”, reads part of the statement in the that the governor and the secretary of agriculture, among others, are also cited.
“The first thing I have to clarify is that this person does not work in La Fortaleza. He has no contractual relationship with La Fortaleza. The person in charge of the hive is a Puerto Rican farmer. It is not that person or that entity”, explained Pierluisi.
In addition, Pierluisi said that D’Monte did not have tax decrees under his false identity.
D’Monte was arrested last Friday in the area of Isla Green. According to federal authorities, the subject was identified by Canadian authorities between 2008 and 2009 as the leader of the British Columbia chapter of the criminal organization “The United Nations” (UN), also known as the “Global United Nations Syndicate” (GUNS). There was an arrest warrant against the man, since 2011, throughout Canada for first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in violation of laws of Canada.
The governor described the matter as “scandalous”.
“I did not have a meeting with this person nor did I have anything to do with this matter, except that he knew there was a hive there in one of the windows in Fortaleza and that they were propelling it to support beekeeping. It is scandalous what has come out in the media. From what I see, he has scammed half the world. Now, that the authorities prosecute him and answer for the horrific crimes that I am hearing that he apparently committed in Canada, ”said Pierluisi.
To questions from the press, Pierluisi acknowledged that D’Monte was in La Fortaleza.
“From what they tell me, at some point he was there collaborating with others to relocate this hive. Basically to relocate the swarm of bees that existed in one of the windows of La Fortaleza”, he explained.
In the past statement 17 February, La Fortaleza announced that the hive rescued by Karma Honey Project would be located in the garden.
“A large part of the population, or a significant part, supports beekeeping. Bees are key to life in general. If what you mean is that he supported beekeeping, that’s not a negative, that’s a positive thing. It now appears that the person has that horrible background, but there is nothing else here,” said the governor.
Zero tax incentives
Initially, it had transpired that D’Monte had supposedly benefited from tax exemptions under the Law 20 and in journalistic reports he had realized that in a chat he flaunted ties or connections with La Fortaleza and the government of the day.
Pierluisi was emphatic in indicating that the arrested person does not have tax incentives.
“I inquired -because I have no relationship with that person- and the information that comes to me is that he does not have a tax incentive decree. This person who has been arrested did not have any type of tax incentive decree. That is the information I have,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Office of Incentives for Businesses in Puerto Rico of the Department of Economic Development and Commerce (DDEC) certified today that they do not have a decree of tax exemption approved under the Law 22 or under the Law 60 under the name of Jonathan Williams, Johnny Williams or Conor Vincent D’Monte.
”On the other hand, Karma Honey Project Corporation, a non-profit organization for profit for which the person in question worked, does not have decrees under Laws No. 20-2012, No. 22-2012, nor Law 60-2019″, the secretary of the DDEC, Manuel Cidre, stated in writing.