A NEW scandal has hit Andalucia with numerous high-profile arrests over Covid-era corruption being made across the region.
The president of the Almeria provincial council, Javier Aureliano Garcia, its vice president, Fernando Gimenez, and the mayor of Fines, Rodrigo Sanchez, have all been arrested by the Guardia Civil for alleged irregular contract practices.
These arrests come amid the ‘Mascarillas’ case, an investigation that was already looking at Gimenez and Sanchez and is analyzing the contracts for the supply of sanitary material processed during the pandemic.
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The case is working with a file of contracts worth 2.3 million and seeks to determine whether the procurement of medical supplies during the pandemic were legal or whether they involved bribery and corruption.
A group chat called ‘Naranjito’ is a primary piece of evidence because it features conversations between Garcia, Gimenez, and a third person about mask related issues.
Upon seeing this, and other evidence, the case’s judge has ordered home and office searches of some of the arrested individuals.
Additionally, the judge has requested access to their private communications and asset freezing so that they can not sell their properties or cars.
The president of the Andalucia Junta and the Andalucian branch of the Partido Popular (PP), Juanma Moreno confirmed that he had no more information about the arrest of the aforementioned individuals – in fact he said he found out about the arrests through the media who broke the news early yesterday morning.
For now, the region awaits clarity from the courts which will determine whether the Covid-era contracts were administrative mistakes or a part of a broader scheme of corruption.
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