the plot of bribery and extortion investigated from Santa Cruz de Tenerife by magistrate María de los Ángeles Lorenzo-Cáceres not only affects the training projects directed by the General Francisco Espinosa in the African countries of the Sahel, with at least four contracts of 2.3 million awarded by a foundation made up of senior officials from the Government of Pedro Sánchez, including the first vice president, Nadia Calvino, two ministers and up to 14 secretaries of state. The judge who instructs the mediator case It also focuses on another six awards, two of them linked to the Ministry of Defence, another to the Interior and the remaining three to different institutions spread throughout Spain.
In all these administrative procedures, the company Asesoramiento y Servicio de Drones SL, which belongs to José Santiago Suárez, a Valencian businessman who is a friend of Major General Espinosa Navas, accused in the case along with other businessmen, the former directors of Livestock of the Government of the Canary Islands Taishet Fuentes and Juan Bernardo Fuentes, the latter a former national deputy of the PSOE, and the mediator Antonio Tacoronte Navarro, who acted as a hinge between the two plots of the corrupt organization: one specialized in avoiding inspections of the livestock sector in exchange for bribes and small bribes, among other urban favors, and another that charged commissions to facilitate business deals on the islands through the Canary Islands Special Zone (ZEC). The judge investigates crimes of bribery, money laundering, document falsification, influence peddling and belonging to a criminal organization.
Prison
The only one of the twelve arrested last week who is still in provisional detention, communicated and without bail is General Espinosa, among other reasons because the magistrate has authorized Internal Affairs to access the general’s corporate email on the server of the General Directorate of the Civil Guard.
The agents are trying to clarify whether there has been any kind of influence or favorable treatment in the large number of contracts awarded from January 2020 to August 2021 to supply drones to both the Defense and Interior ministries as well as the International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policies (Fiiapp), which is the body chaired by Calviño to manage the European international cooperation project led by Spain in the Sahel. Espinosa directed that program from 2017 to January 2021.
And it is that in all these contracts, from the purchase of drones for the African missions by the foundation, to the acquisition of these devices for the Ministries of the Interior and Defense, the agents have found a pattern that is repeated: they always benefited in the awarding of the company belonging to the general’s Valencian friend, according to reports from Internal Affairs of the Civil Guard that have been forwarded to the judicial authority.
The agents, who have dived into the Public Sector Procurement Platform To find these awards, they warn the judge of the “complexity” of the investigation, which requires a meticulous study of the documentation to find icriminal evidence, in order to find behaviors, dates or communications that prove the rigging of these tenders. For this reason, not only has the mail of prickly in the General Directorate of the Civil Guard, but the magistrate has also claimed the original projects from the International Foundation, as well as the months of recruitment and the telephone numbers of all the officials who have been able to intervene in these administrative procedures.
What’s more, from the outset, only with the data from the Public Contracting Sector Platform, the judicial investigators are struck by the fact that the offers of rival companies do not appear in one of those contests. It is a tender that is dated September 23, with the purpose of buying drones for the Civil Guard for a value of 100,000 euros, all through an open, simplified and ordinary procedure. The winning entity is the JHead of Economic Affairs of the Logistics Support Command, which depends on the Ministry of Defence. The contract was taken, like all those investigated, by the entity Asesoramiento y Servicio de Drones for 94,4000 euros, but the agents point out that the offers from the other three companies do not appear in the file: Guardian Homeland Security, Integración Tecnológica Empresarial and Stockrc FPV Aeromodelling.
Land Army
Another of the contracts achieved by the Valencian company, smaller in this case, is awarded for 14,997 euros by the Headquarters of the Intendency of Economic Affairs of Operations, which is also attached to the Ministry of Defence, specifically to the Army. Occurs on November 12, 2021.
The third state contract that is under suspicion is dated October 21, 2020. The awardee body in this case is the General Sub-Directorate of Economic and Patrimonial Management, which depends on the Ministry of the Interior. It is a minor contract to buy for 21,000 euros two drone detection systems for the General Directorate of Police.
The fourth tender taken from the Public Sector Contracting Platform points to the City Hall of Carmonain Seville, which acquires a drone for its Local Police for a value of 6,766 euros, when the initial tender announcement, dated January 13, 2022, was for 5,591 euros.
It also acquires drones for its Civil Protection on Government of Aragon for an amount of 7,450 euros. The announcement of the call is on January 4, 2022 and the winning department is the Presidency and Institutional Relations. At this point, the agents highlight conversations between the Valencian businessman and the contractor that reveal the intention of obtaining more contracts with that community.
-Suárez: «Here we have the issue of Civil Protection, the issue of firefighters. Firefighters on the Peninsula are crazy. I have a lot of dealings with the Zaragoza Provincial Council ».
-Navarro Tacoronte: “Is he from the PSOE?”
-Suárez: «20 emergency flights with drones have taken off».
-Navarro Tacoronte: «Listen to me, is Zaragoza from the PSOE?»
–Suárez: Zaragoza belongs to the PSOE, yes.
-Navarro Tacoronte: «Well then. I don’t think there’s anything else to talk about, right?
In Valdepenas, Real city, the Valencian businessman José Santiago Suárez also did business. The City Council, through his Mayor’s Office, paid him 5,100 euros on October 15, 2021 in exchange for a thermal camera for his Civil Protection Group.
All these contracts, four from the Foundation, two from Defense, one from the Interior, another from Aragon, one from Valdepeñas and another from Carmona, have been located by Internal Affairs through the Public Contracting Platform, but the agents have found more business links with the Valencian businessman through his own Logistics and Financial Application (Alfi).
The General Directorate of the Civil Guard, during 2019, invoiced the company Emcotex Export 9,160 euros through the fixed cash advance procedure (extra-budgetary current expenses). It is a company also linked to Suarez which in this case provides a kind of maintenance service, with the supply of different batteries and spare parts for drones.
Between 2020 and 2022, the invoicing of the Civil Guard amounted to 37,751 euros with the Asesoramiento y Servicio de Drones company, which in those years was directed by two daughters of Suárez. Here the cash advance system and two minor contracts of 13,761 and 9,021 euros were used to buy drones at seprona and other air units.
