Councilwoman Maureen Porras filed a legal complaint with the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office, in which she alleges what she defines as a “gap” in the computer system, which would have been used “deliberately” to obtain information stored on her computer. of work.
In the same way and with a similar argument, councilor Rafael Pineyro filed a legal claim with the Prosecutor’s Office. In both cases, the complaint of these legislators states that their work files were opened without their consent.
Given these allegations, which have been the origin of the controversy that maintains news interest in Doral, Mayor Christi Fraga, consulted by DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS, assures that it was a technical problem.
In her statements, the councilor explained that the computer of her assistant, Marión Troitino, whose name has been mentioned by Councilor Porras in her complaint, was used by personnel from the technological department to carry out some tests.
And given the allusion that the computers were accessed for the purpose of “espionage,” Fraga clarified that if it is presumed that this happened, then the same should be said about what happened to councilor Rafael Pineyro, who assures that the files on his computer They were also reviewed and the assistant of another municipal legislator was identified as the author of the incident.
For Fraga, “all the City’s files and what we do from the mayor’s office is what is called public record. All residents can have access to our files because they are public and for the benefit of the public.”
“I have no fear that they will see all my files because the only thing they will find is work for the City. We must all be willing to open our computers, our files, so that what we do in the City can be seen,” he added. .
According to his explanation, “there was no access to anyone’s emails, only a problem was registered in the system for less than 48 hours.” He said he did not know why the files were opened, “not only for Councilor Porras, but also for Councilor Pineyro.”
The mayor added that at the time this problem was discovered, the City’s Information Technology Department began trying to fix the system and “this took about 36 hours.” An audit was then requested to gain clarity on the incident, she said.
Then, according to his testimony, “people from the IT department entered the system through my assistant’s computer to check if the system had been fixed, just like they did with the other person (Pineyro).”
He revealed that an “internal audit” that was done for this case “shows that Claudia Bailly, Oscar Puig’s assistant (vice mayor and councilor), also looked at more than 100 files of councilor Pineyro when this problem occurred.”
The controversy unleashed, in the opinion of the councilor, is about “pure politics because we are in an electoral year”, to which she added that “the only time that Marion’s username (Troitino, his assistant) appears used (in this context) was when an employee from the IT Department used her computer to see if the problem had been fixed. It was not her (who accessed the system),” says Fraga.
In a memorandum from the City’s technology office, it is explained that “they were in Marion’s office, using their computer at the same time that their user is registered in the system,” the mayor clarified.
According to information revealed and published by several local media, documents related to her professional work as a lawyer were supposedly found in Councilor Porras’ files.
In this regard, Fraga in her interview with this newspaper said that “when she (Councilwoman Porras) began her public work, I myself advised her not to mix her role as a councilor with her work as a lawyer, but she did not listen to me.”
Fraga also mentioned a statement from María Rodríguez, who worked as Porras’ assistant and would have referred to her former boss as someone who “forced her to do immigration work, using the mayor’s computer illegally, for residents, with in order to obtain ‘votes’, and in other cases for his family and friends.
On this matter, the mayor said, “you also cannot use the resources of the City and an assistant who is paid by the City to carry out her private practice, it does not matter if you are doing it for free or if at some point you are going to charge for it.” work. Plus, she works for an organization that pays her to do that (her job as a lawyer).”
The statement that alludes to Porras, about the use of the City computer for her private work as a lawyer, was published by the local media Dolartoday. DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS tried to communicate with Rodríguez, leaving messages on his answering machine and sending text messages to her phone, but was unable to obtain a statement in this regard.
Fraga stressed that she felt “surprised” by Rodríguez’s allegations that she had “been forced to do immigration work, using the mayor’s computer illegally.”
“But I was even more surprised when she said that Councilwoman Porras hates me and my assistant, something that also seems very sad to me because I always gave her my support,” the mayor said. Fraga believes that behind this controversy there would be people who “want to return to power.”
Councilor Porras
DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS also interviewed Councilwoman Porras, who recalled that “in January of this year they told us that there was a ‘breach’ in our systems in the City, just when we were preparing to vote for the dismissal of the administrator who we had then, Bárbara Hernández”.
He indicated that “during that same period, this ‘breach’ occurred and our folders on the City’s computer were opened and other people had access to them.”
During those days, he assured, he continued asking for information about the problem in the computers “and they never gave it to me.” Afterwards, the Council voted and Administrator Hernández was fired.
Later, according to his story, he received “a report showing which people had access to my folder,” and here, he asserts, was the name of Mayor Fraga’s assistant, Marión Troitino.
Porras in his story maintains that a total of 60 files were opened on his computer and attributes it to Troitino; However, the mayor in her statements to this newspaper explained that the technicians accessed the municipality’s computer system through the computer of her assistant “to perform some tests.”
Porras, in addition to the complaint filed with the county’s state prosecutor’s office, requested an external audit in a municipal council session, arguing that he does not trust “the IT department.” The audit must deliver a result within 60 days, he said.
Councilwoman Porras senses that her files were reviewed because “they wanted to know how she was going to vote in the case of the former administrator. My vote was decisive. The same day that Councilwoman Digna Cabral had a press conference to announce that she was going to propose firing to the administrator, an hour later the ‘breach’ was discovered,” says Porras.
The legislator denies having “a law firm” and that she does not take cases either. In her defense, she alleges that “as a lawyer, I receive many requests for help,” which she assures, “are 100% pro-bono,” and that her work cannot be seen as an “abuse of power.”
Regarding the allegations of her former assistant María Rodríguez, who, according to the aforementioned publication, had indicated that she had been forced to carry out work ordered by Porras, the councilor said she was “surprised” because “I always thought that she did a good job and had a lot of potential.” “.
“She left my office very grateful. She gave me a very good resignation letter, praising me, saying that she had learned a lot from me. I think these comments are very strange,” he remarked.
Complaint and explanation
DIARIO LAS AMÉRICAS had access to the complaint that Councilwoman Porras presented to the Miami-Dade State Attorney, Katherine Fernández Rundle, dated January 26, in which she alleges possible violations of the Sunshine Law and a “serious gap” in the data system in the City of Doral.
Porras notes that these gaps occurred in the lead-up to an early vote that would have implications for the position of then-City Manager Bárbara Hernández, suggesting a deliberate attempt to influence decision-making processes. The councilor urged the prosecutor to thoroughly investigate how this breach in the system occurred and to define responsibilities.
Our media also obtained a memo signed on January 31 by José Otero, Doral’s Director of Information Technology, in which he claims to address a recently discovered “issue” related to the configuration of permissions in the Municipal Council folders.
The problem, according to the communication, was identified on January 24 when the IT team discovered that an “incorrect permissions configuration” on a shared network drive allowed “certain users” to access “folders designated as private.” .
He explains that although it was initially “mistakenly” characterized as a “gap,” it was an “internal irregularity without external infiltration.”
He assures that the IT team acted urgently to report the problem, initiate an investigation and resolve the situation, and that on January 25, the problem had been resolved after reconfiguring the security of the network drives to avoid future similar incidents.
Otero claims the misconfiguration was not caused by a “specific individual.”
@DanielCastrope
