Berliner Boersenzeitung - Right-wing opposition ups ante against Spain govt over graft case

EUR -
AED 3.825884
AFN 70.312965
ALL 98.172348
AMD 405.983344
ANG 1.878684
AOA 950.992104
ARS 1046.039232
AUD 1.602332
AWG 1.877506
AZN 1.774876
BAM 1.957138
BBD 2.104639
BDT 124.563946
BGN 1.956544
BHD 0.39257
BIF 3015.466631
BMD 1.041612
BND 1.404994
BOB 7.203027
BRL 6.04
BSD 1.042413
BTN 87.986953
BWP 14.240939
BYN 3.411414
BYR 20415.594464
BZD 2.101187
CAD 1.456049
CDF 2990.468321
CHF 0.931639
CLF 0.037246
CLP 1027.738103
CNY 7.545129
CNH 7.56203
COP 4603.508229
CRC 530.962924
CUC 1.041612
CUP 27.602717
CVE 110.727408
CZK 25.347006
DJF 185.115688
DKK 7.459145
DOP 62.965852
DZD 139.882279
EGP 51.734825
ERN 15.624179
ETB 128.129096
FJD 2.371178
FKP 0.822162
GBP 0.831134
GEL 2.854424
GGP 0.822162
GHS 16.461485
GIP 0.822162
GMD 73.95482
GNF 8990.153218
GTQ 8.0465
GYD 218.082204
HKD 8.108481
HNL 26.280274
HRK 7.430088
HTG 136.833528
HUF 411.72878
IDR 16596.315881
ILS 3.856089
IMP 0.822162
INR 87.95601
IQD 1365.032477
IRR 43844.055504
ISK 145.517163
JEP 0.822162
JMD 166.063508
JOD 0.738611
JPY 161.25928
KES 134.892709
KGS 90.103392
KHR 4219.570425
KMF 492.165604
KPW 937.450371
KRW 1462.980499
KWD 0.320661
KYD 0.868706
KZT 520.483256
LAK 22873.799058
LBP 93328.432197
LKR 303.387371
LRD 187.490516
LSL 18.884822
LTL 3.07561
LVL 0.630061
LYD 5.088315
MAD 10.430651
MDL 19.01327
MGA 4864.328226
MKD 61.529504
MMK 3383.115023
MNT 3539.397392
MOP 8.357733
MRU 41.565566
MUR 48.799915
MVR 16.103715
MWK 1807.197114
MXN 21.322322
MYR 4.653963
MZN 66.569813
NAD 18.884818
NGN 1767.306896
NIO 38.279632
NOK 11.534634
NPR 140.779605
NZD 1.786042
OMR 0.401061
PAB 1.042438
PEN 3.951916
PGK 4.19327
PHP 61.415565
PKR 289.363658
PLN 4.33652
PYG 8137.562185
QAR 3.791992
RON 4.977139
RSD 117.017853
RUB 108.691187
RWF 1427.008389
SAR 3.910739
SBD 8.732411
SCR 14.876528
SDG 626.533424
SEK 11.498605
SGD 1.404201
SHP 0.822162
SLE 23.676226
SLL 21842.08698
SOS 595.285051
SRD 36.971015
STD 21559.264616
SVC 9.121147
SYP 2617.081156
SZL 18.88481
THB 35.925581
TJS 11.101548
TMT 3.645642
TND 3.312851
TOP 2.439563
TRY 35.99228
TTD 7.079839
TWD 33.914681
TZS 2770.688169
UAH 43.124062
UGX 3851.632667
USD 1.041612
UYU 44.329875
UZS 13363.881826
VES 48.495212
VND 26476.734473
VUV 123.662265
WST 2.907755
XAF 656.421432
XAG 0.033316
XAU 0.000385
XCD 2.815009
XDR 0.792961
XOF 650.490415
XPF 119.331742
YER 260.324909
ZAR 18.881446
ZMK 9375.761332
ZMW 28.796097
ZWL 335.398627
  • RBGPF

    -0.5000

    59.69

    -0.84%

  • SCS

    0.2300

    13.27

    +1.73%

  • NGG

    1.0296

    63.11

    +1.63%

  • AZN

    1.3700

    65.63

    +2.09%

  • GSK

    0.2600

    33.96

    +0.77%

  • RIO

    -0.2200

    62.35

    -0.35%

  • BTI

    0.4000

    37.38

    +1.07%

  • BP

    0.2000

    29.72

    +0.67%

  • CMSC

    0.0320

    24.672

    +0.13%

  • CMSD

    0.0150

    24.46

    +0.06%

  • RELX

    0.9900

    46.75

    +2.12%

  • BCC

    3.4200

    143.78

    +2.38%

  • BCE

    0.0900

    26.77

    +0.34%

  • VOD

    0.1323

    8.73

    +1.52%

  • RYCEF

    0.0100

    6.8

    +0.15%

  • JRI

    -0.0200

    13.21

    -0.15%

Right-wing opposition ups ante against Spain govt over graft case
Right-wing opposition ups ante against Spain govt over graft case / Photo: JAVIER SORIANO - AFP/File

Right-wing opposition ups ante against Spain govt over graft case

Spain's left-wing government is facing growing pressure from the country's right-wing opposition over a graft case linked to the purchase of face masks during the pandemic.

Text size:

The case hit the headlines in February after police arrested several people in connection with a kickbacks scandal, one of whom was a close aide to a former minister and key ally of Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.

But as the probe has deepened, the right-wing Popular Party (PP) has demanded the resignation of parliamentary speaker Francina Armengol, who holds the third-highest office in Spain after the king and the prime minister.

The scandal emerged on February 21 with the arrest of Koldo Garcia, a close adviser to Jose Luis Abalos, who served as transport minister from 2018-2021 and a key member of Sanchez's Socialist party.

Garcia is suspected of being a central player in a scheme that let a small, previously unknown firm, Soluciones de Gestion (Management Solutions), obtain contracts worth 53 million euros ($57.5 million) to supply masks to various public authorities between March and June 2020 at the start of the pandemic.

Those contracts allegedly generated kickbacks worth 9.5 million euros.

Since his arrest, the media, notably right-leaning outlets, have run non-stop coverage of the so-called "Koldo affair".

With more revelations emerging daily, the scandal has put the government on the back foot as it faces a string of increasingly harsh attacks from the right.

Although Abalos was not initially implicated in the affair, the Socialist party asked him to stand down as an MP to take "political responsibility" for a scandal that occurred on his watch.

But when he refused, saying it would be seen as "an admission of guilt", they suspended him pending expulsion.

- 'You covered it up!' -

It has since emerged that the investigating judge believes Abalos acted as an "intermediary".

Abalos was replaced as transport minister during a 2021 government reshuffle, and the PP has claimed his removal showed that Sanchez was aware of the scandal and had sought to sideline him.

"You knew about it and you covered it up!" PP leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo accused Sanchez last week, without offering any proof.

And the party has also upped the ante over contracts the company signed with two of Spain's 17 regions, both governed at the time by the Socialists: one with the Canary Islands, worth 12.2 million euros and a second with the Balearic Isles, worth 3.7 million euros.

Angel Victor Torres, who headed the Canary Islands regional government at the time, is now territorial policy minister and the former regional head of the Balearic Isles is Armengol, the current parliamentary speaker.

- 'Red lines' -

The PP has demanded to know how the Balearics administration could have awarded such a large contract to a previously unknown company, which had supplied masks that were not of the quality they had paid for.

On Monday, the PP demanded Armengol resign, prompting her to lash back a day later.

"I have never, ever instructed anyone in my governments to hire one company or another," she said on Tuesday, accusing the opposition of "crossing every red line".

But her words did little to silence the PP whose spokesman Miguel Tellado once again insisted that she "resign her post as soon as possible".

Also Monday, the European public prosecutor's office said it would be investigating the two contracts given that the masks were bought with EU funds.

Spanish media reports said the first casualty was likely to be Alvaro Sanchez Manzanares, who heads the public body that manages the ports and paid the firm at the heart of the affair 20 million euros for eight million masks.

He was expected to be removed from his post on Wednesday following a decision by the transport ministry.

The case is particularly sensitive for Sanchez, who took power in 2018 following a huge corruption scandal that brought down Spain's right-wing government, and has since prided himself on the integrity and transparency of his administration.

(T.Renner--BBZ)