SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 26 Feb (EUROPA PRESS) –
On Wednesday, the Popular Party of the Canary Islands is set to officially file a request in the Canary Islands Parliament for the establishment of an inquiry commission to delve into the ‘Koldo case’. This is aimed at bringing clarity to the contractual agreements between the Canarian Health Service and the company Soluciones de Gestión y Apoyo a Empresas SL, which is linked to the former advisor of the Canary Islands Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos, involving a sum of approximately 12.5 million euros.
It has been disclosed that the Canarian Coalition (CC), the Popular Party’s government ally in the archipelago, is likely to support the proposal once all the specifics of the initiative are known.
In the previous legislative term, both parties attempted, albeit unsuccessfully, to initiate an inquiry commission on the ‘mask case’. This case, under investigation by the European Prosecutor’s Office, involves an upfront payment of four million euros for one million masks that were not delivered, and the matter did not even progress to discussion in the Chamber’s Plenary Session.
The Accounts Audit of the Canary Islands had highlighted in an unreleased 2022 report the lack of technical credibility of the company in two contracts amounting to 9.7 million euros for the procurement of various batches of protective masks.
To address the alleged corrupt practices associated with kickbacks, the Government of the Canary Islands has initiated an internal investigation through the Ministry of Health to identify all related contracts and documents. These will be provided to legal departments for evaluation to potentially assume the role of a private plaintiff if the autonomous community is deemed adversely affected in the case.