The two largest contracts signed by the Madrid City Council for the purchase of medical equipment at the deadliest moment of the pandemic were closed with the participation of the “relative” of the mayor of the capital, Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida. The Anti-Corruption Prosecution alleges in its complaint that Luis Medina Abascal used her popularity and “friendship” with this relative of the mayor to “contact” the Madrid City Council at a time when all administrations were desperately looking for medical equipment. To protect your staff. However, the prosecutor excludes evidence of guilt in the conduct of any member of the local administration or the mayor’s relatives, which is revealed by municipal sources outside the anti-corruption briefing, such as Carlos Martinez-Almeida, a lawyer, the councilor’s first cousin and his companion. It’s on holidays and weekends.
The complaint is directed exclusively against the aforementioned Louis Ramon Medina Abascal, son of Nati Abascal and the late Duke of Feria, and another alleged businessman, Alberto Javier Luceno Seron, who was a former friend at the time. Both are charged with fraud, forgery and money laundering. According to an Anticorruption report, the two businessmen allegedly increased the price of masks, gloves and antibody tests to 426%, according to the Malaysian company, in order to redistribute € 6 million in commission. Promoted a week ago by elDiario.es. To do this, they forged contracts and then rushed to spend money on luxury items to divert attention from its fraudulent origins.
Prior to that, prosecutors said there had been no crime that could barely stop how the two alleged swindlers reached a senior council position, which selected suppliers and rewarded them with millions of euros through the public funeral company, the sole entity. With the ability to advance money in the Consistory and speed up payments in such a dramatic situation. “The person who first contacted the Madrid City Council was Luis Medina, who took advantage of his status as a prominent figure in public life and his friendship with a relative of the mayor of Madrid,” the prosecutor’s report said. The reflection of the pronoun should be added: “He was immediately named General Coordinator of the Treasury and Personnel Government Area.”
Whoever is hiding behind the fact that “it contributed”, be it Martinez-Almeida cousin or someone from the council, his participation has no signs of anti-corruption crime, which his letter does not mention anything possible. Participation of the mayor in investigative commissions.
When headlines about the anti-corruption complaint and the mediation of his family member dominated the headlines, Martinez-Almeida offered his own version of events: “My family member did not know Luis Medina, he contacted a common acquaintance because he had Luis Medina. Interested in contacting the City Council. The adviser’s story contradicts the anti-corruption prosecution, which in a letter to the court confirms that Almeida’s relative and defendant Luis Medina had a “friendly” relationship.
In any case, the content of the complaint served to warn Martinez-Almeida that the City Council would be declared injured if the judge agreed to hear the complaint. Tax sources confirmed to elDiario.es that the anti-corruption organization would offer the judge to offer such an appearance to the Consistory as a “victim” of fraud and thus have the opportunity to recoup the millions of state money taken by the two defendants.
The fact that the mayor’s cousin mediated in order for the alleged swindlers to reach the relevant contact in the city council is a “very serious fact” for which he was asked by Madrid to resign Martinez-Almeida, his spokeswoman at the Consistory, Rita Master, said. For its part, the PSOE demanded the “cleansing of political responsibility” of the new PP president, Alberto Nunez-Feijo, demanded that Mar Espinar, the Socialist spokesman in Madrid. Recupera’s Carmenists in Madrid have suggested that all groups immediately support the censorship proposal and that Begonia Villas, from Ciudadanos, lead a “transitional government” until the next election. The leader of Ciudadanos avoided public appearances on Wednesday afternoon.
Martinez-Almeida said someone from the Madrid council, who did not specify, was limited to providing an e-mail address to Luis Medina that was available to anyone offering medical supplies at the Consistory in the days when there were hundreds of daily deaths across Spain. This does not coincide with the anti-corruption briefing and what the budget coordinator announced in November in front of anti-corruption prosecutor Luis Rodriguez Sol. He assured that he did not remember who had established him in contact with Medina, but had spoken to him three times. Or on the phone four times before continuing to negotiate with another alleged swindler, Alberto Lucienio. According to well-known sources, prosecutor Luis Rodriguez Sol gave the witness as early as November 2020, at the start of the investigation process, that he did not assess the evidence of the crime by the Madrid City Council or its representatives.
According to the mayor, neither her popularity nor her friendship with her cousin was a privilege for Louis Medina when it came to telephoning the man who was carrying out the most delicate management in those dramatic moments, an anti-corruption complaint said to be against it. The mayor, while intervening in front of various media outlets, admitted that once he spoke to Luis Medina on the phone, thanking her for donating 183,000 masks to the Consistory, the fact is still unknown and the mayor decided to announce it briefly. Appearing this Wednesday. Almeida also admitted to contacting other donors to send thanks via email.
None of these extremes have been reported by the mayor in the 16 months since the anti-corruption probe was launched, nor in the media appearances in Seville last Friday, hours after elDiario.es revealed the existence of an investigation. . At that time, he limited himself to considering the City Council as damaged, indicating that the person of the consistory testified as a witness and confirmed the main points of the exclusivity of this media.
This Wednesday, the mayor even reassured that various parliamentary groups were aware by being on the funeral home board that there was an anti-corruption investigation since he announced a high-level council position in November 2020. However, the groups categorically deny that they were aware of the investigation they discovered when elDiario.es published its existence last Friday and revealed details. The council also hides the fact that the contracts were approved by political parties and their representation on the board of directors of the Municipal Funeral Home, though they explain that the requirement at the time reduced that control to some sort of automatic visa.
Anti-corruption asserts its claim as a victim of the Madrid Consistory. “The prices were set by Alberto Lucienio and set in the Madrid City Council under the guise of the false position of him as the exclusive agent of the manufacturer and the sales company,” Luis Rodriguez’s wool’s complaint was collected.
Six million euros in state money earmarked for emergency situations were used by these businessmen to buy more than a dozen super-luxury cars, including two Aston Martin, a Lamborghini and a Porsche, a 13-meter-long luxury yacht. House in the richest municipality in Spain and Rolex brand watches. These are the purchases that anti-corruption condemns as a mechanism for laundering loot from the medical budget.
Source: El Diario
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