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After investigators discovered alleged links with a narco group that used corrupt police to smuggle illegal drugs into Spain, a probe into dodgy Covid contract in Andalucia turned into a full-blown storm of corruption.
The mayor of Fines Rodrigo Sanchez and Javier Aureliano Garcia of the Almeria Provincial Council, as well as its vice-president Fernando Gimenez, were arrested last week for irregular contracting practices in the purchase of personal protective gear (PPE) to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.
Both Garcia and Gimenez resigned since then.
The politicians – all members of the conservative Partido Popular (PP) – are accused of steering a €2 million contract for Covid masks to a businessman with links to organised crime via a non-competitive process involving possible kickbacks, fraud and corruption.
Investigators believe Kilian Lopez, the recipient of the multi-million euro fix in April 2020 through his company Azor Corporate Iberics S.L., which had just over €2 in one of its bank accounts at the time, has credible links to drug trafficking, arms dealing and money laundering in Catalunya.
A separate police operation uncovered encrypted communications that revealed how the criminal network linked to Lopez planned to import cocaine into Barcelona port inside shipping containers labelled as coffee – with bent cops waving the cargo through.
READ MORE: Guns, 23 cellphones, cryptocurrency, and €500 notes: What police found in the house of Koldo Garcia, the man at the centre of the Covid mask corruption scandal that has rocked Spain’s Socialist government
Reports state that the investigation revealed several Guardia Civil members working in the port area of Barcelona were on the gang’s payroll. They allowed the containers to pass in exchange for cash.
Prosecutors suspect that money received as PPE for drug trafficking may have been diverted to finance it, including payments made to corrupt police officers.
According to an encrypted message discovered by investigators, Lopez was making huge profits from his business deal with Almeria’s provincial government.
“We should raise the Almeria problem,” he wrote 28 April 2020. I’ve made a good deal of money by bringing them medical supplies in the past few months. The commissions they take are high…they have big budgets to allocate.
“Now that we have done a 2 million operation, they’ve retained 400 and I’ve retained 400.
READ MORE: Fresh corruption scandal in Andalucia as high-profile arrests made over Covid-era ‘bribes’
The prices of masks have been inflated like crazy. You can make money with these people.
Evidence has also uncovered encrypted communications between Lopez and public officials using coded language such as ‘dentist’, ‘cleaning’ and ‘molar work’, which investigators believe refer to illegal commissions or kickbacks.
According to a court order, the contract reportedly had cost overruns amounting to over €945,000 – around 42 per cent of the total cost of the deal.
The money, according to the prosecutors, was not used to purchase protective equipment during the peak of the pandemic but rather returned to a company controlled by Lopez.
The investigation is ongoing.
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