Prohens: “I am not going to give a million euros to a corrupt plot” | Spain | EUROtoday

The brawl between socialists and well-liked teams over investigations into masks contracts guarantees new episodes. This Monday, the PSOE summoned the president of the Balearic Islands, the favored Marga Prohens, to the congressional investigative fee, in an try and reveal that she allowed the declare of the Executive of her predecessor, the socialist Francina Armengol, to the corporate of the Koldo plot to lapse. to return 2.6 million euros. The PP counterattacked by saying that subsequent week it is going to convey Armengol, now president of Congress, to the committee that controls the Senate, whom it accuses of mendacity throughout the testimony she gave within the decrease home on the thirteenth.

Prohens arrived wrapped in a everlasting smile, greeted the socialist deputies very effusively and, with out abandoning her smiling gesture for a second, fired her first phrases: “I am very aware that I am here because of the maneuvers of confusion, distraction and mud that the PSOE has launched.” The Balearic president argued that her Government gave up going forward with the declare of the Armengol Executive as a consequence of its “weakness” and since it didn’t ask for the complete return of the three.7 million paid for the acquisition of masks from the corporate Soluciones de Gestión, which really helpful the previous advisor to the Ministry of Transportation Koldo García. But Prohens denied that the file has expired and alleged that the PP has introduced two new claims for the overall quantity. “I cannot be the president of a Government that gives a million euros to a corrupt plot,” she acknowledged.

The investigative fee lived an intense day, with morning and afternoon periods, starting with the final director of the Balearic well being service, the additionally well-liked Javier Ureña, who detailed the evolution of the case after PP assumed the Government, in July 2023. At that point, nearly three years late, the earlier Administration had demanded a refund of two.6 million from the corporate, because the masks have been of a decrease high quality than promised. Ureña admitted that on August 24 he signed a decision assuming the actions of his predecessors, which till then he was unaware of as a result of, as he stated, nobody warned him or his superiors concerning the matter within the switch of powers. The firm introduced allegations and even went to Mallorca to examine the warehouse the place the masks have been. The autonomous Government didn’t supply any kind of response till the case broke out on February 21 when the arrests ordered by the National Court grew to become identified. It was then that he determined to current two new claims with a special argument: that the company goal of the corporate didn’t correspond to the character of the contract, the identical factor that occurred with 1000’s of others signed within the worst of the pandemic by Administrations of all colours.

The National Court has famous that the declare has expired as a result of the deadline to resolve it was three months. Prohens, however, makes use of a report from his Consell Consultiu that locations them at eight. The socialist deputy Juan Antonio González tried to nook the president by resorting to judicial punctures, during which the members of the plot boast that they’ve managed to cease the brand new Balearic Government. Prohens repeatedly and with nice power denied that anybody from that firm had pressured her: “I deny it before you and wherever necessary.” The identical factor occurred with Ureña. The deputy of Més, built-in into Sumar, Vicenç Vidal, had blurted out: “Either there was an instruction or negligence, because only when the scandal breaks do they get their act together.” The senior official replied: “No pressure, no advice, no comments.”

Prohens forged every kind of suspicions on Armengol. The former president, in her look on the thirteenth, had acknowledged that she had spoken every so often with Koldo García, in his capability as advisor to former Minister José Luis Ábalos, however by no means about buying masks. Her successor revealed this Monday that the official information embrace a go to on March 26, 2021 by Ábalos to Mallorca to oversee some works and signal agreements with the Balearic Government. According to Prohens, Armengol and the minister held a personal assembly. Among Ábalos's companions was—as all the time at the moment—his advisor Koldo García. As quickly as he heard it, the favored deputy José Vicente Marí launched into it with enthusiasm:

—That is, Koldo like Pedro for his home.

Vox deputy Jorge Campos returned to the matter and requested Prohens if the non-public assembly had taken place on the headquarters of the autonomous authorities. The president couldn’t say for certain, though she stated that she suspects so. She, too, couldn’t corroborate that the minister's advisor was current on the interview, however Campos had already touched the ethical fiber:

—In different phrases, Mrs. Armengol was assembly on the headquarters of the Balearic Government with Mr. Ábalos and Mr. Koldo. It's an actual scandal!

That assembly, after a wonderfully public occasion, which was reported by the media and the Balearic Government itself, between an autonomous president and a Minister of Transport additionally scandalized Elías Bendodo. After ending the session, the PP coordinator went out to satisfy the journalists to denounce that that is proof that Armengol lied in Congress. “And that is a crime,” he added.

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