Trujillo stresses that the priority is to recover the money and advances that the Tax Agency is already working on the asset investigation
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, July 20. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The director of the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS), Conrado Domínguez, has denied this Wednesday that he has any “friendship ties” with the company involved in the ‘mask case’ –RR7 United– nor with 100% of the 365 emergency contracts signed during the pandemic.
In a joint appearance in a parliamentary committee together with the Minister of Health, Blas Trujillo, he has defended the “legality” of the SCS in the operation and also denied that he has been required to resign by the Government of the Canary Islands.
He has justified the contract with the moment of global tension in the health market and although now, with the “experience” of the pandemic, another decision would have been made, he has pointed out that he would collaborate with the emergency committee again. “I would say again that yes, it is worth the work that has been done,” he added.
Domínguez, sued by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office for signs of malfeasance and influence peddling –against businessman Rayco González for aggravated fraud and money laundering–, has relied on the modification of the regulations on public contracts, via royal decree law, which It allowed, among other things, the payment of payments in advance or that the companies supplying material did not have that corporate purpose.
It has also pointed out that the Supreme Court has recognized the “exceptional nature” of these contracts and that the Court of Auditors also admits the “emergency” of the supplies.
He has said that the contracted masks -although they were never received- were endorsed by the departments of Preventive Medicine and Legal Medicine and insisted that the “general interest” was always sought, even when trying to renegotiate with the company given that material was needed and there were “very serious” waves of Covid-19.
Domínguez gave as an example of the market situation that almost half of the companies that signed contracts with the SCS were not dedicated to medical supplies and even the one that sold the robot to carry out the PCR tests was linked to the electricity branch.
He has pointed out that he is the main “interested” in “everything being clarified” and assured the deputies that if they had known someone willing to help with material in March, April and May 2020, “they would have made it available to the SCS”.
TRUJILLO: THE MARKET SITUATION WAS “ABNORMAL”
Trujillo, for his part, has insisted on the “abnormal” situation that existed in those months to the point that contracts were allowed to modify the regulations to try to “preserve the health” of people.
He has called it “mean” that the CC-PNC uses the resignations of Alberto Pazos at the head of the SCS and of the general director of Economic Resources for Health, Ana María Pérez, when they were due to personal reasons, and like Domínguez, He has commented that advance payments could be made.
The counselor has stressed that they are going to “continue collaborating with the justice system” and will appear in court when it is opened to “try to recover the money”, in parallel with the work being done by the Tax Agency, which has already initiated patrimonial investigation work.
“We are not going to stop, the victim is not the Government of the Canary Islands, we are all the citizens of the Canary Islands,” he commented.
The spokeswoman for the Mixed Group, Vidina Espino, has recognized that the international market in May 2020 “was a real jungle” and now, as a result of the Anti-corruption complaint, she has been in favor of letting justice act.
However, he has said that “it is striking” that the mask supply company did not have financial solvency and so much money was advanced and he wonders why the Government did not go to criminal proceedings before the administrative one.
Jesús Ramos (ASG) has valued the “transparency” of the Government for appearing before the Chamber and has agreed with the Executive in recalling the “difficult moments” of the market when the pandemic started due to lack of medical supplies.
He has questioned the political and media “attacks” on the Government to wear it down without taking into account the presumption of innocence and has remarked that neither Domínguez nor Trujillo were in charge of the Health Department when the purchase was made.
YES WE CAN ASK TO “GO TO THE END”
María del Río (Yes We Can) has shown her desire that “responsibilities be investigated and purged until the end” and that the four million euros be recovered because there have been “scoundrels” who have profited. “We can’t allow it,” she said.
It has also been asked why a payment of another two million is paid if the material had not been received and why it had not gone to court before, so it has opened the door to question the “mismanagement” of the department and that it has “political responsibilities”.
Esther González (NC) has stressed that in May 2020 there was a sanitary “collapse” and a “fierce struggle” to obtain the material and has charged against the “parallel trial” of senior government officials and without taking into account the presumption of innocence
Regarding the payment in advance, he has indicated that it was “perfectly legal” at that time since the regulations had been modified, as well as signing contracts with companies without technical or economic solvency or that were not dedicated to the health business.
He pointed out that the reality is that there has been “a scam” and “the full weight of the law” must fall on the scammer.
Miguel Ángel Ponce (PP) has said that it is “embarrassing” to see the position of Sí Podemos when they made a “butchery” in Madrid with a case that has been archived and does not understand why a contract is signed with a company without solvency and that it was not dedicated to sanitary material.
He has lamented the “hole” of four million and the payment of 1.3 million in commissions and that a car company was hired “by finger”, putting on the table if that decision cost Teresa Cruz the position as director.
PP: “RECKLESS AND FOOLISH” MANAGEMENT
In his opinion, it has been a “reckless and reckless” management by the SCS and the Ministry and he has wondered if Domínguez formalized the contract as the owner of the company was a “close contact” of a friend.
José Alberto Díaz-Estébanez (CC-PNC) has criticized the lack of news from Domínguez and Trujillo in their speeches when four million euros were “stolen” “and in exchange for nothing” since the masks were not received.
He has commented that “someone made the decision” to hire that company and regretted that the Government took six months to make the first claim when the supply was “urgent”, as well as why they did not go to court when they had “verified “lost money.
He has also insisted that in this case “there are no irregularities but crimes” and has warned of the risk of patrimonial responsibility.
The deputy has pointed out that Domínguez has been given “the face of Conrado Mustafá Domínguez” because he is the “scapegoat” to close the crisis and pointed out that the Government spokesman, Julio Pérez, and the Vice Minister of the Presidency, Antonio Olivera, They are also responsible because they directed the ministry at the time, as was President Ángel Víctor Torres, who chaired the health emergency committee.
Marcos Hernández (PSOE) has criticized Díaz-Estébanez’s “lack of responsibility” in trying to involve many high-ranking government officials — “only Pedro Sánchez and Bildu have been missing,” he ironized –, stressing that it is not possible to analyze the ‘mask case’ outside the global health context.
