SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, 23rd February (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Audit of Accounts in the Canary Islands had previously indicated in 2022 the lack of financial stability of Soluciones de Gestión y Apoyo a Empresas SL, a company associated with Koldo García, the former advisor to the ex-Minister of Transport José Luis Ábalos, who was detained in a corruption investigation related to the sale of medical supplies.
A preliminary report, obtained by Europa Press but not ultimately approved by the Plenary Court, highlighted the oversight of the autonomous community concerning two contracts worth a total of 9.7 million euros with the said company.
One of the contracts, signed on 4th May, was for the procurement of two million KN95 protective masks totalling five million euros. The other contract, signed on 22nd April, was for 4.7 million euros for the purchase of an additional batch of FFP2 protective masks.
The Audit Office criticized the government for authorizing payments that exceeded economic limits set during the pandemic and noted that the company did not have a specific purpose related to healthcare materials.
Despite acknowledging the challenging circumstances faced by personnel managing contracts during the pandemic, the Audit Office questioned the formalization of contracts with companies engaged in unrelated activities such as car sales and repairs, ship construction, agriculture, livestock, and industrial supplies trading.
One of the contracts involved a company named RR7 United, currently under investigation by the European Prosecutor’s Office for receiving a four-million-euro prepayment for one million masks that were never delivered.
Consequently, the Audit Office concluded that many contracts awarded during the pandemic lacked the required scrutiny and failed to protect the financial resources of the autonomous community. This led to the procurement of health products that fell short of quality standards and could not fulfill their intended purpose.
