Corruption suspicions: Balearic Government contracts under review

Follows last week's resignation of Santos Cerdán, PSOE's national secretary of organisation

The old Son Dureta Hospital in Palma, Mallorca

One of the contracts relates to the old Son Dureta Hospital in Palma | Photo: Miquel À. Cañellas

| Palma |

The Partido Popular government in the Balearics is undertaking a one-by-one review of all contracts awarded by the previous PSOE-led administration to companies listed in the Guardia Civil report that concerns Santos Cerdán, PSOE's national secretary of organisation who was forced to resign last week over corruption allegations.

Among these companies is Levantina, Ingeniería y Construcción S.L., which was awarded four contracts. The largest contract (€9.3 million) was for the construction of a nursing home facility at the old Son Dureta Hospital in Palma. Four bids were submitted, and the one listed in the report won. The company then declared bankruptcy and abandoned the project, something it did with contracts awarded elsewhere in Spain and under very similar circumstances.

The other three contracts for this company were small by comparison. They amounted to around 300,000 euros and were for work carried out on railway bridges.

The Levantina review is the first. The government will then move on to others, including contracts for larger projects and with larger amounts for the Acciona construction and engineering company. Following the report by the Guardia's Central Operational Unit (UCO), Acciona fired one of its senior executives.

The PP believe the UCO investigation specifically has to do with contracts awarded to companies involved in the scheme that appear in case against Cerdán. Veritas, a Palma-based association dedicated to the fighting of corruption, previously requested the Audiencia Nacional in Madrid to seize all files related to the awarding of contracts for face masks.

This request also called for an investigation into contracts with companies that could be related to the case against Koldo García, once the personal adviser to José Luis Abalós, the former minister of transport. It was this case that gave rise to further investigation and led to the fall of Pedro Sánchez's right-hand man, Santos Cerdán.

The UCO report that resulted in Cerdán's resignation makes no specific reference to the Balearic Islands. However, it is noted that the investigation stems from the case of the face masks purchased by the Balearic Government and other administrations.

Related
Most Viewed