SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — A former Puerto Rican education secretary, the Chamber of Commerce president and 15 others were charged in an alleged scheme of stealing federal funds, extortion and money laundering, US prosecutors said yesterday.

Victor Fajardo, who served as the US territory’s education secretary from 1996 to 2000, was arrested early yesterday, as were nine others, prosecutors said. Warrants had been issued for the arrest of the others.

Among those arrested were Richard D’Acosta, president of Puerto Rico’s Chamber of Commerce, and Jose Omar Cruz, a former deputy education secretary under Fajardo, said acting U S attorney Guillermo Gil Bonar.

Gil Bonar estimated the amount of US funds diverted to Puerto Rican election campaigns at more than $4 million, and said officials of both the pro-statehood New Progressive Party — which was in power at the time — and the anti-statehood Popular Democratic Party had been involved.

Much of the money was supposed to go toward computers and computer training for teachers, prosecutors said.

Lawyers for the accused were not immediately available for comment.

The list of those charged in indictments handed down by a federal grand jury Tuesday includes other lower-level public officials. Many of the accused are businesspeople who allegedly had contracts with the Caribbean island’s Department of Education.

One of them is Fajardo’s sister-in-law, Maria Ramos Matos, who allegedly had contracts with Fajardo’s department.

Also among those facing federal charges is schools consultant Jesus Emilio Rivera Class, who allegedly was involved in giving Fajardo more than $750,000 in bribes. Rivera Class, who was arrested in Miami yesterday, was co-operating with investigators and providing information in return for immunity from charges in Puerto Rican courts, prosecutors said.

The case is the latest in a string of government corruption scandals in Puerto Rico.

Angel Luis Ocasio Ramos, deputy chief of staff to then-governor, Pedro Rossello, during the mid-1990s, was arrested in December on two counts of conspiracy to interfere with commerce by extortion. Ocasio Ramos’ lawyer, Daniel Lopez Romo, denied his client has misused his public office.

Rossello, who supported statehood for the US territory, stepped down in 2000. His successor, Governor Sila Calderon, opposes statehood and was elected in part by voters who said they were fed up with growing corruption in Rossello’s government.

In Rossello’s last year in office, high-ranking administrators were convicted of stealing $2.2 million meant for AIDS patients. The scandal rocked the government and forced Rossello to take the stand to deny allegations that he accepted part of the money.