Friday, March 29

Anti-corruption archives the investigation into the contract of Ayuso’s brother


Isabel Diaz Ayuso. / EP

The Prosecutor’s Office rules out influence peddling due to the commission of 55,000 euros that the investigated party received and concludes that “there is no record of the participation” of the Madrid president in the award to a family friend

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office has archived the investigative proceedings that it opened last February as a result of the complaints by PSOE, Más Madrid and Podemos about possible influence peddling in the purchase of masks from the Community of Madrid from a company run by a friend of the brother of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and which led to the outbreak of the internal crisis in the PP that took Pablo Casado ahead.

The previous leader of the popular ones came to face the president of Madrid, whom he accused of “non-exemplary” conduct for the granting of the aforementioned contract for 250,000 masks, worth 1.5 million euros, for which Tomás Díaz Ayuso charged a commission of 55,000 euros plus VAT.

The decree notified this Thursday by the Prosecutor’s Office concludes that “the analysis of the processing of the contract, its object, price and execution does not allow any illegality to be specified, at least with regard to the behaviors included in the perimeter of this investigation.”

The chief prosecutor for Anti-Corruption, Alejandro Luzón, thus shelved the facts under investigation but without making “any pronouncement” on the “possible crimes of embezzlement” of European funds investigated by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office. This diligence, which is still open, began because the aforementioned emergency contract signed by the Community of Madrid for the acquisition of masks during the pandemic was paid for with FEDER funds from the EU.

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Regarding Anticorruption, Luzón points out that the investigation carried out “has not highlighted any element indicating that Tomás Díaz Ayuso carried out actions, proceedings or procedures before the Semas -the Madrid Health Service- or before any other body or service of the Community of Madrid aimed at obtaining favorable treatment for the Priviet company”, managed by Daniel Alcázar, a friend of the family.

There is also no record, adds the Prosecutor’s Office, that the brother of the Madrid president “provided this company with any contact with public officials who, on the other hand and in accordance with the procedure followed by the Subdirectorate General for Contracting, was not at all necessary to present the offer”.

Regarding “invoicing, payment and collection of the commission”, the Public Ministry describes “the procedure followed as transparent”. And it is so, he adds, while Tomás Díaz Ayuso, “in his capacity as self-employed, bills in his own name, as a natural person, and for the real concept.” Then Priviet transfers the amount to your account “and both meet their corresponding tax obligations.”

In the opinion of the chief prosecutor, the brother of the Madrid president “offers a coherent explanation about his intervention in the process of selling the masks, which is based both on the documentary material provided by his representation and on the different witnesses who have testified” .

In short, the collection of the commission «brings cause» of the work for this company, «consisting of adding value to the commercial process through its knowledge of healthcare management and the healthcare market, suppliers and potential clients, as well as the qualities and specifications of the demanded products.

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“There has been no corruption”

Regarding Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the Prosecutor’s Office highlights that “there is no direct or indirect intervention of the president in this file, nor of the mediation on her behalf of Tomás Díaz Ayuso before any official or authority.”

Thus, and regarding a possible prohibition to contract with Priviet due to a situation of incompatibility, he recalls that “for this company to be subject to the prohibition of contracting, the person would have to be its administrator or shareholder of more than 10% and, in addition, conflict of interest with the contracting body, which is not the President of the Community or its Governing Council”.

After learning the news, Isabel Díaz Ayuso has celebrated the file of the investigation that shows that in the Community of Madrid “there is neither corruption nor has there been corruption.” “I have not made a single decision since I became president to help a single family member or a single friend to benefit from the heritage of all Madrid residents,” she remarked at the end of the plenary session in the regional Assembly.

The leader of the PP has lamented “the tortious use” that the left of justice is making to “stain” her honor and has reminded these groups that none of the complaints they have filed against her have prospered. “It could be that justice is from the extreme right, it could be that the system is corrupted, but twenty times the crooked use that you are making of justice has been demonstrated,” she has censored.

She also wanted to thank the support and trust that her cabinet, her parliamentary group and, especially, the leader of the PP Alberto Núñez Feijóo, have placed in her during these months. “Thanks to the fact that she has trusted me today – she stressed – I am president of the group and of the party that supports my Government”.


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