LUMA Energy’s C.E.O., Wayne Stensby, Is Under Arrest Warrant

U.S.|Judge Orders Arrest of Puerto Rico Power Company Chief Executive

MIAMI — Puerto Rico’s troubled electrical strategy suffered done decades of mismanagement and corruption, bankruptcy and past Hurricane Maria, which wrecked powerfulness lines and plunged the land into darkness. Six months ago, the authorities privatized the grid successful an effort to permission past problems down and rebuild.

But the archetypal fewer months of privatization led to much powerfulness outages. And now, the caput of the caller electrical institution is nether an apprehension warrant.

On Wednesday, a justice successful Puerto Rico issued an bid to detain the main enforcement of the electrical company, LUMA Energy, accusing him of failing to comply with a tribunal bid to supply documents to lawmakers.

In a melodramatic escalation that caused a frenzy connected the island, Judge Anthony Cuevas Ramos of the Court of First Instance successful San Juan issued the apprehension bid for Wayne Stensby, the caput of LUMA Energy, the backstage Canadian American consortium that began operating the powerfulness transmission and organisation strategy successful June.

The justice held Mr. Stensby successful contempt of tribunal a time aft helium had ruled that the institution had until 5 p.m. connected Tuesday to taxable the documents requested by the Puerto Rico House of Representatives, wherever critics of the institution are examining whether institution executives are being paid precocious salaries astatine the disbursal of hiring much — and much experienced — enactment workers.

Among the documents sought are details regarding the salaries of apical institution executives; however galore employees are needed to tally the system; and receipts and clip sheets filed by employees, consultants and contractors.

“Unjustified delays cannot beryllium sponsored oregon blessed by this Court,” the justice wrote successful his powerfully worded order. “We see them a mockery to our judicial system.”

“Nobody is supra the Law,” helium added. “NOBODY.”

A spokeswoman for the institution did not instantly respond to an email requesting comment. Local quality outlets successful Puerto Rico aired video of deputies arriving astatine the company’s headquarters. It was unclear if Mr. Stensby was inside.

Puerto Rico privatized its electrical grid aft decades of mismanagement and corruption astatine its nationalist utility, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority. The bankrupt inferior inactive handles powerfulness procreation for the island’s 1.5 cardinal electrical customers. After the backstage institution took implicit the remainder of the grid successful June, outages became longer and much frequent. Puerto Ricans took to the streets successful protestation and demanded that the company’s declaration beryllium canceled.

Gov. Pedro R. Pierluisi told reporters connected Wednesday that the institution should comply with the tribunal order.

“As I person said before, the instrumentality applies to everyone arsenic and it indispensable beryllium followed,” said Mr. Pierluisi, of the New Progressive Party. He maintained that helium saw nary request to cancel the contract, a determination that helium said would enactment Puerto Ricans’ electrical work astatine risk.

Mr. Stensby argued successful hearings earlier some the Puerto Rico Legislature and Congress that his institution did not person to disclose definite information, specified arsenic enforcement salaries, due to the fact that it is simply a backstage business. But lawmakers countered that the fragile grid — and the wealth allocated to wage the company’s $115 cardinal yearly interest and modernize the strategy — is public. Congress acceptable speech astir $10 cardinal to rebuild the strategy aft Hurricane Maria wrecked the grid successful 2017, leaving the full land successful the dark.

The institution mislaid repeated attempts successful tribunal to debar providing the documents.

After the apprehension bid for Mr. Stensby, lawyers for the institution said successful a tribunal filing that they had submitted the records. But lawyers for Representative Luis Raúl Torres, the lawmaker who sued for the documents, said successful a counter-filing that the submission appeared to beryllium incomplete. The justice gave Mr. Torres’s bureau an hr to fig retired if immoderate documents were missing. The institution had turned implicit immoderate documents connected Tuesday.

Mr. Torres, of the Popular Democratic Party, said successful a quality league held successful the Capitol that helium had asked the tribunal for much clip to reappraisal the documents, which were thousands of pages long. The justice past gave lawyers for some sides 3 hours to conscionable and spell implicit the documents, keeping the apprehension bid successful place.

The bid was issued astatine 9:17 a.m. section time, the filing by Mr. Torres’s lawyers said. The institution handed implicit a USB thrust with the documents astatine 9:48 a.m.

In the quality conference, Rafael Hernández Montañez, the House speaker, called Mr. Stensby a “fugitive.”