The European Prosecutor’s Office has filed the complaint for the megacontract of 263 million euros for masks that Salvador Illa’s Ministry of Health signed in the middle of the pandemic. The European entity shelved these proceedings after verifying that no illegality had occurred with this contract FCS Select Products. The firm, dedicated to the supply of marketing articles alcoholic drinks and whose owner was convicted of fraud, became the largest supplier of the Government of Pedro Sánchez.
Sources from the investigation tell Vozpópuli that the community body – which is responsible for investigating alleged fraud against European funds – decided not to move forward with this complaint after adhering decisive reports, among them one from the General Intervention of the State Administration (TGAE). These experts ruled out irregularities in relation to the quantity supplied or the price of the contracts. In that sense, and taking into account that these were emergency contracts, the body filed the complaint. The diligence was agreed upon in the middle of the competency verification, Therefore, no case was opened for this matter.
Likewise, the European Prosecutor’s Office has archived the case opened by the contract – also signed by the Ministry of Salvador Illa – with the Chinese company Weihai Textile Group. Unlike what happened with FSC Select Products, in this case an investigation was opened to clarify whether or not a crime was committed with the purchase of 500,000 disposable gowns. However, the proceedings have ended up being archived after the addition of separate reports from the IGAE and the Civil Guard, which close the door to an alleged misappropriation of European funds. Both the FCS Select Products and Weihai files have been confirmed by one of the Permanent Chambers, which are the collegiate bodies of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office that supervise the investigations.
The largest supplier of the pandemic
As this medium revealed, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office referred to the European Prosecutor’s Office a list of government supplier companies in the middle of the pandemic and detailed those awards co-financed with Feder funds. It is worth remembering that Anti-Corruption channeled a series of complaints filed mostly by the Popular Party and the PSOE so that all ‘handmade’ contracts for the supply of medical supplies were investigated. The body studied all of them and filed those that did not constitute a crime. However, it maintained the focus on the contracts to Management Solutions within the framework of an investigation that marked the birth of the Koldo case.
Precisely, the document sent to the European Prosecutor’s Office included the awards of the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of the Interior to this company in the plot, although it was specified that they were not paid for with European funds. In the same way, the awards to FCS Select Products y a Weihai Textile Group specifying that they had been paid for with community funds. The first of them became the largest contractor of the pandemic for four awards signed with the General Directorate of the Common Portfolio of Services of the National Health and Pharmacy Systemgoverning body of the Ministry of Health.
The first contract was closed for 10 million euros for the purchase of 20 million surgical masks, 10 million nitrile gloves and 150,000 protective glasses. The second contract was awarded by 119 million euros to acquire “respiratory protection masks for Covid-19 coronavirus”; The third was closed for 63.7 million euros in exchange for another 150 million surgical masks and the fourth and last for 24.6 million euros also to buy face masks. The total amount of these four contracts – signed on March 23, 2020 – amounted to 217.5 million euros, although the complainants raised the total to 263 million.
The PP included more files in its complaint, in which it warned that FCS Select Products not only was not dedicated to the health sector, but that its corporate purpose was the manufacture of marketing items for the alcoholic beverages sector. In addition, it determined that the company received awards from Health for a value 275 times higher than its turnover and 84,800 times higher than its share capital and that it lacked employees. To this they added the conviction in 2016 against the administrator of FCS Select Products for a crime of aggravated scam.
Pre-file checks
Regarding Weihai, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office was informed of a contract signed with the National Institute of Health Management (INGESA) for the supply of 500,000 disposable gowns per 8.4 million euros. In this case, it was reported that the price per unit of the gowns (16.7 euros) was higher than that offered at that time by other suppliers. Furthermore, the firm was not among the list of recommended companies then by the Chinese Government.
However, the European Public Prosecutor’s Office has concluded that both cases should be closed, taking into account that there was no irregularity regarding the price paid, the quality of the material purchased or its delivery. Both the FCS Select Products complaint – which was shelved in mid-2023– like the one relating to the Chinese company, were archived after incorporating several expert reports that ruled out the commission of the crime. So, these were not flat files, but there were prior checks. However, if new evidence appeared, both cases would be susceptible to reopening.
Judicialized cases
It should be remembered that the European Prosecutor’s Office has also obtained other contracts for the purchase of masks paid for with European funds, such as the one signed by the company in the Koldo scheme with the governments of the Balearic and Canary Islandswhich was then led by Francina Armengol and Víctor Ángel Torres. These are adjudications that have finally ended up returning to the National Court, after both entities assumed jurisdiction to investigate the Koldo case and the high court determined that the investigation must continue under the leadership of Judge Ismael Moreno.
With regard to the Ministry of Salvador Illa, the complaints led to the opening of paths criminal cases in the Plaza de Castilla courts. One of them was directed against senior officials of the Ministry of Health and Finance also for these health contracts. The Prosecutor’s Office and the Law Office promoted the filing of this procedure, in which only Vox accused.
In parallel, another court in Plaza Castilla opened a case to investigate the complaint filed by the State Confederation of Medical Unions (CESM) against Salvador Illa for a crime against the health of workers. This medium revealed that the case was also ended after it was confirmed that the proceedings had not been extended since October 2022 and, therefore, all the proceedings carried out since then were out of deadline.
Source: www.vozpopuli.com
