The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office estimates that the businessman Alberto Luceño pocketed 5.1 million euros in commissions for brokering the purchase of medical supplies by the City of Madrid in the most complicated moment of the pandemic. His partner, Luis Medina, obtained another million for his part.
As if that were not enough, the summary of the case, to which he has had access THE NEWSPAPER OF SPAINa newspaper belonging to the same editorial group as this medium, also reveals another series of Additional features that Luceño took for carrying out the intermediation procedures, including four free Covid tests for each member of his family and 50,000 masks donated by the City Council to the hospital where his wife works, andl Iron Gate of Majadahonda.
Similarly, the businessman, head of the plot, did not stop when charging the Consistory led by José Luis Martínez Almeida 25,000 dollars (23,100 euros) of “penalty” that the Malaysian company Leno, supplier of all the material, had in turn provided to him. As published by this medium, the businessman forged the signature of Leno’s director on two occasions to qualify as his “exclusive agent”, according to the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office.
According to the complaint filed by the Prosecutor’s Office before the investigating court number 47, when Elena Collado, the person in charge of the Treasury and Personnel of the Consistory and who was in charge of purchasing medical supplies during the pandemic, warned Luceño in mid-April 2020 that the gloves were from “poor quality” and only reached the wrist, Both businessmen decided to return the 4,050,000 euros that they had obtained as a commission in that specific contract [eran tres contratos en total].
“If to that amount is added a penalty of 25,000 dollars that Leno imposed on Alberto Luceño and that this had repercussions on the Madrid City Council, explains what was the reason for the aforementioned transfer of 4,025,000 dollars”, points out the complaint, which, however, does not specify the reason for the penalty by the Malaysian company.
In total, the complaint establishes that the operations cost the Madrid City Council about 10.8 million euros while commissions reached 6.1 million euros. The Consistory obtained from the Leno company “one million masks that, despite being of good quality, the seller would have been willing to sell for a price much lower than that paid; specifically, 40% of what the City Council paid for them”.
50,000 masks -5% of the total- were donated by the Consistory to the aforementioned Majadahonda hospital, at the request of Luceño. “My wife’s hospital called me to thank me; andthey are all delighted. They tell me that they are approached by other specialties to tell them that many thanks to the City Council and to me”, Luceño Collado expresses it in a WhatsApp message on April 23.
On the other hand, the Consistory also received two and a half million pairs of nitrile gloves, of “much lower quality and with different characteristics than those that had been offered, and for which he paid approximately four times the price of that type of gloves in a supermarket in Madrid on those same dates”.
In addition, it received 250,000 Covid-19 tests, of which almost a quarter (60,000) were unusable due to their low level of sensitivity (66.7%), and another important part (115,000) were, at least, also of doubtful efficacy due to its low level of sensitivity (80%).
Precisely, one of Luceño’s demands to Elena Collado during their WhatsApp exchanges was that she provide him with four Covid tests for “every member” of your family.
“What I will ask you for as a favor is that when the tests arrive, I can have four for each member of my family,” Luceño asks the high-ranking municipal official in a conversation on April 24, who replies “of course”.
The Prosecutor’s Office attributes to the two businessmen the commission of the crimes of aggravated fraud, false documents and money laundering. Both Medina and Luceño They are summoned to testify on the 25th.