Eduardo Colom Palma

Esteban Urreiztieta Madrid

Palm

Madrid

Updated Tuesday, March 5, 2024-12:54

  • 'Koldo Case' Armengol avoided complaining about the masks after the technicians warned that they were going to expire

  • Politics Armengol appears in Congress 13 days after the 'Koldo case' broke out, rules out resigning and does not clarify who gave the order to buy the masks

Thirteen days after the scandal broke out, the person most responsible for the payment of 3.7 million public euros in the

Balearic Islands

to the plot linked to the advisor of former minister Ábalos for useless masks still does not clarify the two main unknowns.

The first, the most important, who provided his Executive with the contact of the company

Soluciones de Gestión y Apoyo a Empresas SL

, the company linked to Koldo García and designated by the

Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office

and by the Civil Guard as the distributor of commissions using the sale of masks to administrations controlled by the PSOE.

Francina Armengol has not only evaded this morning in the face of insistent questions from journalists, but has also carried the ultimate responsibility for the choice of that company (which had neither solvency nor experience, was domiciled in

Zaragoza

and had never sold sanitary supplies to them). in public health service technicians.

"All members of the government received names of companies from different places," he said vaguely.

"They came from companies, from administrations, from ministries, from institutions, from city councils."

And that, he added, "was sent to the Health service, which technically contacted the companies and analyzed what they were offering, the price, and decided whether to buy it or not."

This statement is clearly called into question by the file investigated by the National Court, where, as EL MUNDO revealed, the first and only thing that exists at the origin of the payment awarded without a contract is an 'email' from the commission company to the Government. Balearic Islands where he informed him of the imminent arrival of the plane.

That email dated April 25, 2020, addressed to one of the senior Health officials of the Armengol Government and whose content was reproduced by this newspaper, suggests that the purchase was already agreed through channels that are unknown to this day.

To know more

The revelations of the summary.

The phrase that propelled De Aldama to the center of Koldo's plot: "Don't forget to send me the letter to Venezuela. It's urgent"

  • Editorial: GEMA PEÑALOSA Madrid

The phrase that propelled De Aldama to the center of Koldo's plot: "Don't forget to send me the letter to Venezuela. It's urgent"

'Koldo Case'.

Four ministries knew that Ábalos was targeted by the Civil Guard when Sánchez replaced him as a deputy

  • Editor: QUICO ALSEDO

  • Editorial: GEMA PEÑALOSA Madrid

Four ministries knew that Ábalos was targeted by the Civil Guard when Sánchez replaced him as a deputy

As if that were not enough, the company later alleged that "telephone conversations" had preceded the negotiation of the shipment and the technicians admitted in their written communications that the order came from another public administration.

Even today it remains unknown who the participants in those "conversations" were and which public administration they were referring to.

Armengol has not clarified this, although he denies having received pressure, orders or coercion.

His explanation today about the supposed "technical" analysis of the investigated company and its merchandise also does not conform to the file and the data revealed so far.

And before the payment to the plot company was approved, there was no quality analysis nor was there a "technical" study of the genre that was purchased from the network allegedly embedded in the PSOE Ministry of Development.

There is also no evidence that the price and its suitability were checked in detail before giving the green light to payment.

From the documents it appears that material was purchased blindly, paying for it before sending it for analysis and hiding behind the urgency of the state of alarm.

In addition to all this, the payment was express: it occurred just nine days after the material placed by the Koldo plot was cleared at Palma customs, when its quality and whether it would be useful for the hospital purpose for which it was still unknown. had purchased and for which its purchase was justified as a matter of urgency in a report dated April 29.

The haste in payment is unequivocal: on April 27, 2020, it was cleared through customs and on May 5, the transfer of 3.7 million euros took place, without the quality of the purchased material being known in detail.

It was still going to take a month from receiving the plane with the masks until, on June 8, the National Center for Protection Means delivered an analysis of the merchandise to the Government and informed it that the masks from the company that is being investigated for paying commissions to Koldo, they were not of quality and therefore were unusable for the hospital use for which they were purchased.

The reports reflect that only then did they withdraw from the health centers, without any action being taken to demand the money from the company or reproach it for poor quality and breach of contract.

The argument of the "technical" study of the suppliers is even more in question if we take into account that in August 2020, two months after removing the merchandise, the Government of Armengol issued a certificate endorsing the good quality of the service provided by Soluciones of Management.

The president of Congress has not clarified through what channel the name of that company reached her Executive, despite the fact that she has been questioned about it on up to three occasions.

"It came to us from different people," she noted, and then said that it was the health service "that decided."

The second big question that Armengol has not clearly clarified is why in three years his Government did not claim the money.

He knew since June 2020 that the masks he purchased did not have the quality contracted (and paid for with 3.7 million public euros) and his first written procedure questioning the supply (it was not a formal claim) dates back to March 2023, two months. before the elections in which he subsequently lost power.

In his appearance today, Armengol defended himself with a novel argument: he said that it is as valid to claim it "on the first day as the last" and he has not mentioned several important elements: that his Executive knew since July 2022 that the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office He investigated the payment and that the masks not only did not conform to what was paid but had expired, this circumstance having been alerted by the heads of the health service warehouses in which he is now hiding.

Why didn't your government act against the company sooner?

Why did he do it on the eve of the elections three years after knowing that the material was of poor quality?

"We were on time," he simply replied.

At this point, Balearic politics uses a documentary alibi in its favor, but it does not fit the facts reflected in the documents, detailed by this newspaper in recent days.

He says that it was his government that made the claim in separate letters from March and July 2023. However, in reality, his Executive only issued a letter to the company under investigation in March 2023 informing it that it had breached the contract.

And that he would adopt "appropriate measures" accordingly.

No amount is specified in that letter and, therefore, there is no formal financial claim.

The president of Congress maintains that it was her government that "formalized the claim" in July but, again, that month there was no communication to the company asking for the return of the money (2.6 million, not everything it collected), a procedure that was not formalized until August 24, 2023, when the incoming government chaired by Marga Prohens demanded the money from the company one month and eleven days after the new Public Health management team took office.

It has therefore been the PP Government that has formally executed the claim and not the outgoing Armengol government.

Prohens has announced that the Autonomous Community Attorney's Office will appear in the case to claim all of the money and not the 2.6 million initially demanded back.

The reason for this delay under the Socialist Executive in holding the company accountable for the mask scandal remains a mystery, although Armengol has denied that there is any collusion with the company and has defended the opposite, that they did act.

"I have never ordered anyone to be hired, no one coerced us and no one pressured us."

He maintains that the claim procedures are long.

What the Government's health service did on July 6, the same day of the change of government, was sign an internal report in which the first claim of 2.6 million euros was quantified.

A document that did not have validity as a formal claim because it was not addressed to the company.

These are not the only areas of twilight in the former Balearic president's explanation.

In his argument, and as expected, Armengol maintains that his government "bought legally" and always "with well-made contracts."

The Civil Guard concludes the opposite in a report dated September 2022 and contributed to the judicial summary of the Koldo case.

In it, the Judicial Police agents who analyzed the file maintain that the masks were accepted before any contract existed, in a "pre-awarded" award that is "contrary to the law" and they even discuss that the umbrella of the state of alarm for emergency hiring.

These reports are in the possession of Judge Ismael Serrano and must now be discussed in court.

Armengol has even maintained that no one from his government is being investigated or "is in the summary", when the contract paid by his Executive is an essential part of the investigation opened in the National Court, without at the moment being declared as under investigation. nobody.

In this sense, it must be emphasized that the Civil Guard claimed the file in August 2022 by order of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, and it was delivered six days later.

There is therefore a judicial investigation into the actions charged to the public funds of the Government chaired by Armengol.

Furthermore, in another piece of information that the president of the Congress has not mentioned, the European Prosecutor's Office has opened proceedings to investigate the Balearic Islands contract (along with others in the Canary Islands), having been endorsed to European Union funds at the end of that year. 2020. This despite the fact that at that time the Government of Armengol already knew that the material did not have quality comparable to FFP2 masks, the object of that emergency contract.

At the moment the scope of these investigations is unknown, but the crimes being investigated are unknown: embezzlement, influence peddling and prevarication.