Marisa Cruz Madrid

Madrid

Updated Tuesday, February 27, 2024-11:44

  • Politics Ferraz's last attempt to get Ábalos to resign his seat in Congress: "We are sure that José Luis will do what is best for the PSOE"

  • Balearic Investigation will appear as an accusation in the Koldo case and will claim all the money that Armengol paid

"I am very indignant, very indignant."

With these words, the president of Congress, Francina Armengol

, has referred

to the information about the contract that the Balearic Islands, under her presidency, closed with the company endorsed by

Koldo García

, for the purchase of masks for a total of 3.7 million euros.

In statements to journalists in Congress, Armengol assured that it makes him "disgusted" to think that "someone could profit from the purchase of medical supplies at a time when so many people were dying in Spain. It is a shameful situation and therefore That's why I'm very happy that the PSOE has not put itself in profile and said that it has zero tolerance for corruption," she added.

The president of the Lower House has insisted that her indignation is also due to the fact that, as former president of the Balearic Islands, they are being "put at the level of these people."

"I want to say with complete firmness," he stressed, "that the Government of the Balearic Islands that I presided over, the team of wonderful people, gave their all to protect the citizens, to buy medical supplies, to protect the health workers and the workers. public".

Armengol has stressed that those moments, the hardest of the pandemic, "were emergency" because "the market was stopped in Europe and we had to go buy from China with emergency contracts."

And he has emphasized that what was done in the Balearic Islands was to buy material: "I would do it a thousand times to protect the citizens, which was my absolute obligation with emergency contracts, but with legal contracts that were guaranteed through all the rigorous controls of the Health Service".

The president of the Congress and former president of the Community of the Balearic Islands explained that at that time a lot of information was coming from companies that could have material from China, either from the Ministry of Public Works, from other institutions or from businessmen and "everyone", has insured, "we passed them to the Health Service that analyzed and contracted them."

In relation to the contract provided by Ábalos

' advisor

, Armengol has assured that she had "the favorable supervision of the General Intervention of the Autonomous Community."

"Therefore," she stressed, "everything is done legally."

He also explained that when any doubt arose about the purchased material, it was sent to the Institute of Hygiene and Safety at Work for analysis.

This is what happened in the case of the masks in the Koldo case.

"When they told us that they did not have the quality for which they had paid, the Government of the Balearic Islands demanded in a timely manner that that company return part of the money," said the president.

"I left the claim file signed [by the Balearic Government and the Health Service] and what I demand now is that the new Government of the Balearic Islands execute that file and get the money back for the citizens. When we made the transfer of powers we explained to the new Balearic Government that this file existed and that they had to demand. More transparency is impossible. What I find outrageous is that in any case we would be affected and in no way part of that corruption," he concluded.

The PP asks for "explanations"

In the Board of Spokespersons of the Congress, the spokesperson for the Popular Parliamentary Group, Miguel Tellado, will demand that the president of the Congress of Deputies, Francina Armengol, "give explanations for her involvement in the corrupt plot of the PSOE", according to

popular

sources .

The GPP spokesperson will demand that he "not use his position to hinder any parliamentary investigation and will ask him to abstain from voting on any issue in which he is an affected party."

"Did you receive instructions from Mr. Ábalos or Mr. Koldo García so that the Government of the Balearic Islands, which you then presided over, would buy masks from the company involved in the plot?" the sources ask.

"Why did his government go three years without claiming the money from the contract, 3.7 million euros, despite knowing that the masks were defective and were collecting dust in a warehouse and that the Civil Guard was already investigating?" They add.