Puerto Rico Sues G.E. for $550 Million

The General Electric Company was convicted in February by a New Jersey federal jury of bribing a Puerto Rican government official. G.E. paid U.S. $1.25 million in 1974 to Carlos Velasquez Toro, then operations manager of Puerto Rico's Water Resources Authority, in order to secure a $93 million power plant contract in Aguirre, P.R. The company now faces fines totalling $43,000 and it plans to appeal.

The Puerto Rican government in mid-March began its own proceedings against G.E. The government's Electric Power Authority filed a suit against G.E. for over $550 million, contending that the bribe-oriented plant was defective, and that without the bribe, G.E. would not have been awarded the contract.