The Investigating Judge Number 4 of Córdoba, José Luis Rodríguez Laínz, has initiated the call instruction Infrastructure case, in which the possible manipulation of contracts is investigated in the Infrastructure delegation of the Córdoba City Council, and has requested detailed information of up to twelve companies, who appear as applicants or successful bidders in the tenders investigated, all of them minor contracts made in 2020. Specifically, the judge requests information from the judicial neutral point to know their registered offices, date of incorporation and directors thereof. Among the dozen companies is the one indicated by the United Left in the initial complaint that uncovered the Infrastructure case, the company Construcciones Sierracom SL, which was awarded the work on Libia Avenue, “the tip of the iceberg” of this investigation, according to the complainants.
In the judicial order, in which the judge has accused the former general coordinator of Infrastructures of the City Council of Córdoba and a technician from this municipal area, the municipal legal advisor is also asked to know if there was any system of Lists of companies with which you can contract directly and in such a case, it questions how membership in that list or exclusion of eventual companies awarded minor contracting under suspicion was determined.
What does the judge see evidence of?
The judge considers that the investigated facts “have characteristics that make us presume the possible existence of a criminal offense; specific possible crimes of administrative prevarication of art. 404 of the Criminal Code for the contracting of services or works, through cost splitting techniques, despite the existence of unfavorable reports, and circumvention of competition through inadequate selection of possible contractors invited to bid; falsity in official document 390.1, pending specific qualification according to the results of the investigation, regarding the signing of work certifications, as well as, where appropriate, possible crime of embezzlement of public funds, if the existence of undue, duplicate or unduly justified payments is specified”. The general coordinator of Infrastructures —a position of trust appointed by Ciudadanos— was ceased in November 2021 when the Prosecutor’s Office ruled on this case.
political implications
After this order, the City Council of Córdoba will be able to appear as injured in a case that was denounced in the first instance, back in February, by the municipal group of Izquierda Unida through the mouth of the sadly deceased Amparo Pernichi and that months later ended up being part of a joint lawsuit with Podemos. Also, commissioned by the mayor, José María Bellido, the head of the municipal legal office, Miguel Aguilar, carried out a detailed report on the minor contracts of the Infrastructure Delegation in this mandate (a total of 42 contracts of more than 3,000 euros awarded in 2020), which also increased the information that the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor assessed considering that there were indications of possible crimes in the narrated facts. Among what was pointed out by the Public Prosecutor’s Office were the division of contracts, awards to companies with which there were family ties and even works that were paid for without even being done.
Apart from these contracts, the Prosecutor’s Office continues to study some twenty more lighting awards on which it has not yet ruled and which date back to 2016, that is, which were tendered in the previous municipal mandate, and which were raised to those judged by David Dorado himself.
On a political level, the earthquake caused by the Infrastructure case caused, on the one hand, the fourth crisis of the municipal government, in which David Dorado, until then deputy mayor of Infrastructure, was removed from his responsibilities although he kept his act as councilor; and on the other hand, it led the PP and Cs government team to elaborate new requirements to make the hiring of minors more restrictive. In the judicial order to which Córdoba has had access, the name of David Dorado does not appear.
Interrogations and request for investigation
In his order, the judge, on the other hand, determines as a first investigation diligence to carry out the statement taken as investigators of the two defendants. It also asks the City Council for the documents referring to the request to change the person in charge of the head of the unit that was produced when the mandate began to place the technician now listed, as well as vacation dates granted to the investigated party, as well as information on the companies awarded the contract. suspect contracts. Likewise, the judge orders that information be collected on what were the selection criteria of the contractors in minor works contracts, among others.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.