The judge who has investigated the masks case has proposed to judge businessmen Luis Medina and Alberto Luceño for this alleged scam to the Madrid City Council in the sale of sanitary material in "the worst moment of the pandemic" of COVID, in 2020, inflating prices to obtain "high commissions".

Almost a year after the judicial investigation began – before it was secretly directed by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office – the head of the Court of Instruction number 47 of Madrid, Adolfo Carretero, has put an end to the investigations by prosecuting the only two accused in the case: the aristocrat Luis Medina, son of Naty Abascal and the Duke of Feria, and Alberto Luceño.

The first proposes to try him for a crime of aggravated fraud and another of falsification of a commercial document; while Luceño is attributed, in addition to these crimes, another of falsification in a public document and an aggravated tax offense.

However, the judge has not seen evidence to judge them for a crime of money laundering since "they did not try to hide the money received from the commissions" they obtained (6.1 million) nor did they try to make it disappear, according to the order, against which there is an appeal.

A plan to get "the greatest possible benefit"

The events occurred in March 2020, "at the worst moment of the COVID pandemic and with thousands of deaths" in Spain, when, according to the judge, both investigated "took advantage of the urgent need" of the City Council to obtain sanitary material.

The judge believes it is accredited, at least indicatively, that both "devised a plan to obtain, with the excuse of altruism, the greatest possible economic benefit at the expense of the municipal treasury", through the intermediation in the purchase of sanitary material from a Malaysian company, charging "very high commissions" that would hide the Consistory of José Luis Martínez Almeida.

The "main manager of the plan" was Luceño, says the judge, although Medina used "his status as a public and famous figure," as the son of the Duke of Feria and Naty Abascal.

Through his "friendship" with a university director, he obtained the telephone number of the mayor's cousin, who in turn got the coordinator of the City Council, Matilde García, to facilitate the contact of the general coordinator of Budgets and Human Resources, Elena Collado, that is, the person in charge of purchases.

In this way they acted "on the margins" of the official procedure and "with manifest advantage" over other competitors and, after getting contact with the City Council, Luceño pretended to have experience in the sector, factories in China and be exclusive agent in Europe of the Malaysian company Leno, to achieve the signing of three contracts with the Company of Funeral Services and Cemeteries of Madrid. The council paid $11.9 million for one million masks, 2 and a half million pairs of gloves and 250,000 rapid COVID tests.

However, the businessmen "hid" their "zero experience" in the sector and, "what is more serious", that "they had inflated the price" by 60, 81 and 71%, respectively, due to the "high commissions" they reported to Luceño (5.1 million dollars), and Medina (one million more). "The Madrid City Council paid a totally excessive price for a material that was partly defective," says the judge, given that neither the gloves nor the tests were of the promised quality.

A false CNI card and instructions to San Chin Choon

The judge affirms that the Police have accredited the "falsity" of documents "elaborated" by Luceño to justify the income obtained and try to hide "the deception that presides over the entire operation." In addition to simulating the signature of the Malaysian businessman who owns the Leno company, San Chin Choon, written instructions were found that Luceño allegedly gave him about the answers he should give in the framework of the rogatory commission that the judge sent to testify. The magistrate offered this businessman to come and testify in Spain, although he has not finally been able to interrogate him.

Without forgetting the "false" CNI card and the "numerous documents" related to the sale of medical equipment, "with various versions and modifications" that were found in the registry of his house, such as a letter signed by the mayor and modified or a certificate from the Puerta de Hierro hospital in Majadahonda.

A certificate issued by the general director of Emergencies and Civil Protection of the City Council was also found, where "official agent of the Chinese Government" was added, the judge adds.

The magistrate also proposes to try Luceño for a tax offense by not having paid the Treasury a fee of more than 1.3 million euros from commissions, and exempts Medina from the crime of lifting assets for which he investigated.

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