The great scam of health purchases in the pandemic: "I told him I was going to call the Police"

• Justice Luis Medina denied the prosecutor that he was planning a seizure of assets to avoid the embargo: "No, no, no, nothing!"

• Anti-Corruption Courts accuse Luis Medina and another businessman of using a cousin of Almeida to earn six million selling masks

Prosecutors and judges are investigating various purchases of medical supplies at the beginning of the pandemic that were full of irregularities or that were directly a scam.

A few days ago, three senior officials gave explanations in court for the orders from the central government.

The case of the brother of the Madrid president, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, had had more political repercussions before.

A matter that, however, has paled before the millionaire commissions uncovered in the purchases of the Madrid City Council and that on April 5, two years after the start of the pandemic, the prosecutor took to court.

MARCH 14, 2020.

The state of alarm is declared.

The

like all administrations, is looking for medical supplies.

“Those days there was nothing.

The market was absolutely broken.

The usual suppliers had nothing and we had 10,000 people on the street, "explains the prosecutor, recalling those days, the municipal official in charge of purchases,

MARCH 20.

The Consistory tries to expedite the purchases and signs an agreement so that its Funeral Services Company is in charge, which unlike the Consistory could advance payments.

A day or two later, Collado receives a call from Luis Medina.

His telephone number has been given to him, according to the defendant today,

a relative of the mayor, with whom he had a common acquaintance.

Medina, a recognizable figure for being the son of

explains that a contact of his,

has worked for years in China and has access to the material.

23 OF MARCH.

"Elena.

I am Alberto Luceño.

This message at 7:47 p.m. is the first of hundreds between the two, which occupy 25 pages of the summary.

That morning, the Board of Directors of Funeral Homes accepts Luceño's two offers to buy masks, advancing the 50% payment.

The businessman claims the transfers so that “his people belong to him” start producing.

In the beginning everything is trust.

"We are in your wise hands," Collado writes.

MARCH 24

.

The City Council makes the first of the disbursements and the largest: $3,344,650 as "first payment for the masks."

The nine payments for the masks, gloves and tests take place until April 6, when the last million is paid.

The total sum finally disbursed reaches 11,914,330 dollars (just over 11 million euros).

MARCH 25TH.

New Board of Directors of Funeral Homes, this time to accept two other offers from Luceño: protective gloves and rapid tests for Covid-19.

MARCH 26TH.

"Luis [Medina] has already told me that he has called him Almeida," Luceño writes to

did not clarify to the prosecutor if his only contact with the mayor was a call or a message.

MARCH 27TH.

Luceño sends an email to Medina attaching the transfer of 250,000 dollars from the Malaysian company Leno, which sells the material.

"Congratulations friend!!!!!!!!

Now head, huh?

The commission corresponds to the masks, for which Madrid pays almost 6.7 million dollars.

Four correspond to commissions: one for Medina and three for Luceño.

MARCH 30TH.

New transfer to Medina -the 750,000 dollars that were missing for his million- and a new message from Luceño.

The congratulations had already been given and now the message is different: "Pa takes it out."

APRIL 2.

Medina spends fast.

She makes the first payment (93,700 euros of the total of 325,000) to a Dutch company for the Feria, her new Eagle 44 yacht. She puts it in the name of a Gibraltarian company.

APRIL 8

.

A key day.

The gloves arrive, but they are neither thick nor elbow-length, but rather short and of poor quality.

When Elena Collado receives a photo of the material, she collapses in the chair and puts her hands to her head, according to her account to the prosecutor.

"Call me please.

This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me.

For God's sake, tell me something.

They have scammed us for sure », he writes to Luceño, who does not take because he is« with China ».

Collado insists: “I started pounding on his phone over and over again.

I told him 'this is a scam and I am going to call the police immediately'».

To "calm down" the City Council, Luceño says that he has achieved a substantial price reduction and that four million will be returned.

The return occurs, but not because of a price drop: the four million are the commission that Luceño had added to the real price of the glove.

With the hangover from what happened, the businessman vents in a message to Collado: «Me since 6.50 in the morning.

But I am neither a buyer nor a seller, nor an intermediary party.

I am a person who helps and donates.

MAY 15

.

Luceño buys in

the first of several luxury vehicles, an Aston Martin.

Pay 160,000 euros.

An embargo weighs on nine of them today.

The most valuable is a Ferrari 812 Superfast, "the most powerful and fastest road-going Ferrari ever built," according to the brand.

Pay 293,000 euros.

MAY 31.

The tests arrive in Madrid and there are problems again.

«A thousand pardons for writing on Sunday, Alberto;

there is a part of the tests that does not have the same quality as the other three.

Only 60%, which discourages us from continuing to do them to our public employees, "writes Collado.

They agree that the problem may be the quality of the reagents and that another batch will be sent, which according to the Prosecutor's Office never arrives.

JULY 23TH.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office receives a report from

with the suspicious movements of Luceño and Medina in recent months.

OCTOBER 1ST.

With the commissions, Luceño buys a house in

(Madrid) for 1.1 million.

Today it has also been seized.

NOVEMBER 19

.

The head of Anticorruption, Alejandro Luzón, orders an investigation to be opened.

Crimes of money laundering and embezzlement of public funds are considered.

The latter would suppose the implication of some official or public office.

But after delving into what happened, this legal classification, the most politically committed, disappears.

The crimes end up being fraud, money laundering and falsehood.

MARCH 16, 2021.

Elena Collado testifies before the prosecutor.

She explains that she calls him Luis Medina, but on the most politically sensitive point - how he got to her - she does not clarify anything: «I do not remember who put me in contact with Medina.

He could have come from a councillor, from a coordinator...».

She does not mention the relative of the mayor, who according to Medina is the one who gives her the correct contact.

APRIL 13TH.

Luis Medina appears before the prosecutor Luis Rodríguez Sol. His lawyer has been able to examine the file and has already informed him that, compared to what was agreed, Luceño had taken much higher commissions.

His message to the prosecutor is that he was just "a facilitator" and that his commission is "within the norm."

APRIL 14TH.

It is the turn of Alberto Luceño.

He disagrees with Medina and affirms that it was his partner in the business who addressed him saying that he had contacts in different public administrations, not only in Madrid.

Despite the prosecutor's suspicion, he maintains that his commission was "normal" and that it was set by the selling Malaysian company.

He adds that, due to the speed in delivering the material, he deserves recognition.

MAY 4TH.

The prosecutor issues a letter rogatory to Malaysia so that the authorities of that country question San Chin Choon, head of the selling company.

The answer is still not forthcoming.

APRIL 5, 2022.

The Prosecutor's Office condenses a year and a half of investigation into 13 pages of a complaint.

The next day, Judge

in charge of Court 47 of Madrid, admits it for processing.

That same day he orders the seizure of the assets of the defendants.

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• China

• Isabel Diaz Ayuso

• Coronavirus

• Valencia