The Diplomat
The European Parliament expressed yesterday, at the proposal of the European People’s Party (EPP), its “great concern” about the possible diversion of EU funds in the so-called ‘Koldo case’, the plot related to possible irregularities in the purchase of masks during the COVID-19 pandemic in Spain.
With 367 votes in favor, 230 against and 10 abstentions, the plenary session of the European Parliament approved an EPP amendment to the European Commission’s annual report on spending management in which “serious concern” is expressed about the “alleged misuse” of more than 17 million from European funds in this plot, in which Koldo García Izaguirre, an advisor to the then Minister of Public Works, José Luis Ábalos, is allegedly involved.
The amounts allegedly embezzled come from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), with 14.6 million euros; and the Solidarity Fund, with 3.1 million, as reported yesterday by the Europa Press agency. Koldo García Izaguirre and six other people are being investigated for their alleged membership in a “criminal organization” to profit from nine public contracts for the purchase of masks, valued at 54 million euros.
Likewise, the text urges the Commission to resort to external auditors in the event of detecting a “serious lack of capacity in a Member State” and regrets that the Commission has not discovered this alleged misappropriation of funds “despite having carried out audits.” The amendment also criticizes that the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) has received information about the case from an individual and not from the competent authorities and recalls, in this regard, that EU rules establish that governments must “inform without delay” the European Public Prosecutor’s Office itself when they have “any suspicion of embezzlement” of funds from the community coffers.
“No matter how much Pedro Sánchez tries to divert attention from the corruption of his Government, in the PP we are not going to stop denouncing the PSOE case in the EU to protect European funds,” declared the PP spokesperson in the European Parliament, Dolors Montserrat, cited by Europa Press.
