Juanma Lamet Madrid

Madrid

Updated Wednesday, March 13, 2024-02:12

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The Ministry of Transportation also received “defective” masks from the

Koldo García

plot .

This is attested to by a report from the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard on the investigations carried out in Puertos del Estado, which was the public entity that was in charge of acquiring, in March 2020, the eight million masks that the ministry.

But he managed to recover the money he had paid for them, first, and the replacement of other better quality masks, later.

The report, which EL MUNDO has accessed, does not leave the Government of the Balearic Islands, chaired by

Francina Armengol

at the time, in a good place , compared to the performance that Puertos had on those same dates.

Because?

Because while the Balearic Islands allowed three years to pass until they claimed the money paid for the defective masks they received from Soluciones de Gestión - the central company of the Koldo plot -, Puertos del Estado - which depends on the Ministry of Transport - achieved the refund of the amount in just four months since the delivery of the material.

And he obtained the replacement of the

fake

masks for quality ones only 48 hours later.

This shows that the plot was willing to compensate for the damage caused by the sending of

fake

masks (those that "do not meet" the required quality are colloquially called that).

In fact, as this newspaper reported, Management Solutions already had to reduce its bill to the Government of the Canary Islands by 1.3 million euros, for having delivered inadequate material.

But the Balearic Islands did not make a point-blank claim like Ángel Víctor Torres

and

José Luis Ábalos

did

.

Why remains a mystery.

The report details up to 45 movements between Management Solutions and the national government on account of the State Ports contract.

Among them, an advance of 50% of the money, an

ad hoc

modification of the conditions, the means of transport and delivery dates, and even a change of the technical sheet of the masks to be supplied.

All in order to accommodate the needs of a company without proven experience or solvency.

The urgency in gathering material took precedence over everything else.

With all the difficulties that arose - the company even lost the "pre-reservation" of a plane full of masks -, Puertos del Estado received what was expected (the last shipment arrived on May 8).

But not everything was canonical and useful FFP2 masks.

There were at least two useless games.

On August 12, Management Solutions issued a "corrective" invoice stating that it involved the refund of the amounts paid for the delivery of "defective material" that it had delivered on April 1, four months earlier.

There were 7,600 units that were not useful.

Two days later, the company proceeded to "replace" the same number of "KN95/FFP2" masks at the price at which they were purchased four months earlier: 2.5 euros per unit.

But that batch of masks received on April 1 hid many more "defective" units.

Specifically, another 42,600.

This is detailed in the UCO report.

The modus operandi was the same: first, the plot returned to State Ports the money they had paid for them, and then it returned them and collected them again.

«Again, on December 9, 2020, the Soluciones de Gestión issues two invoices, the first of which corresponds to the corrective invoice number AB-20,027, which concerns the return of 106,500 euros for the delivery of “defective material” reflected in invoice number 20,018 dated April 1, 2020, where 42,600 units were delivered at a price of 2.50 euros," explains the UCO report.

On the other hand, the second invoice concerns the issuance of number 20,073, which states in the description that it is the replacement of a defective item, consisting of 42,600 units of KN95/FFP2 masks at a price per unit of 2.50 euros, which make a total sum of 106,500 euros (exempt from VAT).

That is to say: Ports detected inappropriate masks and returned them.

Meanwhile, the Government of the Balearic Islands stacked them in a warehouse and attributed their expenditure to the European Feder funds.

Ábalos was referring to that difference when, in the first stages of his defense, after the plot broke out, he maintained in an interview that the case of his ministry was different from that of Armengol.

Because?

Because, in his opinion, in the purchase of Ports there was no "loss to the public coffers", while in that of the Government of the islands, there was.

"That's a scam," prodded the now deputy of the Mixed Group (which will debut tomorrow in the henhouse of Congress, by the way, voting "yes" to the amnesty).

In the UCO report on the requirements carried out in State Ports, it is stated that the public entity returned another 386,000 masks, but it does not specify whether they were also defective.

The Civil Guard knows that the returned material was delivered, but the report says nothing about the receipt of the masks that were to replace the returned ones.

On the other hand, and to better understand the contrast between what happened with the

fake

masks in the Canary Islands or Puertos and what happened with those in the Balearic Islands, we must remember that the Executive that was then led by the current president of Congress did not demand the money from Koldo García's plot despite verifying that the masks were not only useless, but were about to expire.

They were warned that the material for which they had paid almost 4 million public funds had little left... and they let it expire.

"RETURN FOR DEFECTIVE MATERIAL"

The central company of the 'Koldo case', Management Solutions, had to return thousands of useless masks to State Ports.

This is proven by two "corrective invoices" in the possession of EL MUNDO.

One is from August 2020, four months after the delivery of the "defective" material, and the other - in the image - from December 2020. Meanwhile, the Balearic Islands took three years to request the money.