A PROBE into dodgy Covid contracts in Andalucia has exploded into a full-blown corruption storm after investigators uncovered alleged links to a narco gang using bent cops to smuggle drugs into Spain.
Last week, the president of the Almeria provincial council Javier Aureliano Garcia, its vice president Fernando Gimenez and the mayor of Fines, Rodrigo Sanchez, were all arrested over irregular contract practices for the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE) during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Garcia and Gimenez have both since resigned.
The politicians – all members of the conservative Partido Popular (PP) – are accused of steering a €2 million contract for Covid masks to a businessman with links to organised crime via a non-competitive process involving possible kickbacks, fraud and corruption.
Investigators believe Kilian Lopez, the recipient of the multi-million euro fix in April 2020 through his company Azor Corporate Iberics S.L., which had just over €2 in one of its bank accounts at the time, has credible links to drug trafficking, arms dealing and money laundering in Catalunya.
A separate police operation uncovered encrypted communications that revealed how the criminal network linked to Lopez planned to import cocaine into Barcelona port inside shipping containers labelled as coffee – with bent cops waving the cargo through.
According to reports, the investigation discovered that several members of the Guardia Civil working in Barcelona’s port area were on the gang’s payroll, allowing the drug-filled containers through in exchange for money.
Prosecutors believe money received for PPE may have been siphoned off to finance drug trafficking, even including payments to crooked police officers.
One encrypted message sent by Lopez and discovered by investigators suggests the businessman was profiting massively from the deal with Almeria’s provincial government.
“We should promote the Almeria issue,” he wrote on 28 April 2020. “I’ve made quite a lot of money with them these past few months by bringing in medical supplies. The commissions they take are high…they have big budgets to allocate.
“Now we’ve done a two million operation and they’ve kept 400 and I’ve kept 400.
READ MORE: Fresh corruption scandal in Andalucia as high-profile arrests made over Covid-era ‘bribes’
“They’ve jacked up the prices of masks like you wouldn’t believe. You can make money around these people.”
Evidence has also uncovered encrypted communications between Lopez and public officials using coded language such as ‘dentist’, ‘cleaning’ and ‘molar work’, which investigators believe refer to illegal commissions or kickbacks.
According to a court order, the contract reportedly had cost overruns amounting to over €945,000 – around 42 per cent of the total cost of the deal.
Prosecutors suspect the money was returned fictitiously to a third company controlled by Lopez, rather than used to supply protective equipment at the height of the pandemic.
The investigation continues.
