"(. was unexpected at this time" when running batch file from Powershell - powershell

Question

I am using Powershell to remote to a server and then run a batch file to execute on the remote server. I am able to connect to the server fine and start the batch file. But when I execute the batch file via Powershell, I keep getting an error that is
"NotSpecified: (. was unexpected at this time.:String) [], RemoteException"
However, if I execute the batch file locally from the server, the batch file runs without any problems. Through troubleshooting and logging, I think the problem has to do with an If-else block that is in the batch file. The code is below. Is there something that needs to be fixed in the syntax for it to work via Powershell ?
Assume that %prop_arg% is a value that is passed as a command line argument. The other variables are set during execution of the batch file before it gets to the if else statement. Thank you for your help.
if [%prop_arg%] == [] (
#rem if nothing then use default value
echo Running Execution for '%USERID%' on %DATE% >> %CURRENT_DIR%\Logs\%LOG_FILE%
echo. >> %CURRENT_DIR%\Logs\%LOG_FILE%
echo GEM list: >> %CURRENT_DIR%\Logs\%LOG_FILE%
gem list >> %CURRENT_DIR%\Logs\%LOG_FILE%
ruby %CURRENT_DIR%\testscript.rb %CURRENT_DIR%\framework_properties.txt 2>&1 | tee -a %CURRENT_DIR%\Logs\%LOG_FILE%
) else (
echo Using properties file: %prop_arg%
ruby %CURRENT_DIR%\testscript.rb %CURRENT_DIR%\%prop_arg% 2>&1 | tee -a %CURRENT_DIR%\Logs\%LOG_FILE%
)

Answer 1

Take a look at how you are using if/else statements. You have the wrong syntax for them. You need brackets {} enclosing the execution bits of the if else instead of the parentheses
() you have
batch is not powershell they are different languages and have different syntax. If you're running batch code in powershell it will try to interpret it as powershell.
if you need to run a batch file from powershell do
Start-process C:\path\to\file.bat