Spain to probe COVID-19 contracts allegedly linked to ministers

FCS Software Solutions

22/04/2022 16:32

MADRID, April 22 (Reuters) - Spain's anti-corruption
prosecutor said on Friday it would open a preliminary inquiry
into alleged corruption by companies purportedly linked to
government ministers that won lucrative contracts during the
COVID-19 pandemic.    
    The prosecutor's office said it would assess the allegations
submitted by Spain's opposition People's Party (PP) to determine
whether the seven companies involved received special treatment
and if there were grounds for a full investigation.
    Under scrutiny are a contract for a marketing company
allegedly linked to Economy Minister Nadia Calvino's husband and
the awarding of government support to a business with ties to
the parents of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. 
    Neither the Economy Ministry nor the Prime Minister's office
responded to a request for comment. 
    Another supplier in question is FCS Select Products S.L.,
which the prosecutor said won contracts to supply face masks and
surgical gloves worth 263 million euros ($284 million), having
posted revenue of less than 1 million euros in 2018.
    The prosecutor said the company's stated business of
beverage marketing had no relation to medical supplies and cited
media reports linking it to former health minister Salvador
Illa.
    Reuters could not independently identify any link between
Illa and the company. Neither FCS nor Illa could be reached for
comment. 
    Two years since COVID-19 swept the globe, investigators are
beginning to comb through the fine print of contracts signed in
the early days to determine whether politicians or entrepreneurs
took advantage of the desperate situation to make a quick
profit. 
    In February, the prosecutor opened an investigation into the
brother of Madrid's regional leader Isabel Diaz Ayuso, of the
PP, over a suspect face-mask supply contract. Ayuso denies any
wrongdoing.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2UZ0LI
    Separately, a court is investigating whether huge
commissions charged by an aristocratic entrepreneur and his
partner on the sale of masks to Madrid city hall constituted
illegal profiteering.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N2W53WT   
    ($1 = 0.9253 euros)

 (Reporting by Nathan Allen and Inti Landauro
Editing by Mark Potter)
 ((n.allen@thomsonreuters.com; +34 617 792 131;))