A crossfire of complaints and accusations between the government of Pedro Sánchez and the main opposition party, the PP alleged acts of corruption this would entail family members of the main political leaders generates instability in Spain.
The last chapter iinvolves the partner of the president of the Community of MadridIsabel Díaz Ayuso: Alberto González Amador, a 48-year-old healthcare technician, has been reported by the provincial prosecutor’s office and is under investigation for tax fraud and falsification of documents.
The Spanish press underlines that he is the boyfriend of the president of the Region he would have pocketed around two million euros in commissions for purchasing masks during the pandemic.
This Wednesday, moreover, the PP denounced Sánchez for having been present at the cabinet meeting in which it was decided to financially “save” Air Europa, the airline of the Globalia group which allegedly subsidized the professional activities of the president’s wife. of the government, Begoña Gómez.
The PP’s accusations against Pedro Sánchez’s wife are part of the corruption conspiracy involving a former advisor to the former Minister of Transport, José Luis Abalos, who allegedly enriched himself enormously by collecting commissions to approach the government with intermediary companies for the purchase of masks from China at the worst moment of the pandemic.
Due to the complaints being investigated, Abalos, who was currently an MP and declared himself innocent, was questioned by the leadership of his party, the PSOE, to leave his post.
Which did not happen: whoever was secretary of the organization decided to distance himself from the PSOE and maintain his position alone and within the mixed group, made up of forces that number fewer than 15 deputies.
The consequences of the so-called “Koldo case” – named after the former councilor accused of corruption, Koldo García Izaguirre – reached Pedro Sánchez’s wife. Begoña Gómez would have met with two entrepreneurs linked to the conspiracy who would have made commercial proposals to her.
This background and the ties of the president’s wife with Air Europa, the company saved from bankruptcy with millions of public money, are the dagger that the PP throws at the PSOE asking for the resignation of several leaders, including the president of the Congress, Francina Armengol, who he was regional president of the Balearic Islands when illegal commissions were paid for the purchase of masks.
Crossfire
On Wednesday, in the parliamentary session to control the government, Pedro Sánchez and Alberto Núñez Feijóo, president of the PP, exchanged serious mutual accusations.
“We are faced with a very serious case of corruption, Mr President, which affects your government, your party and probably you too,” said Núñez Feijóo.
Among his recriminations, the PP leader called for the investigation to be reopened into the confusing episode that occurred in Spain in January 2020, when the vice president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, landed in Barajas despite having been banned from entering Europe. Then-Transport Minister Avalos met her in a room at Madrid airport. He never gave any explanations about that meeting, which the judge closed the investigation into.
In turn, Pedro Sánchez targeted the leader of the Madrid PP. “I ask that you ask for the resignation of Mrs. Ayuso as president of the Community of Madrid,” Sánchez told Núñez Feijóo.
“Let him have courage, let him be courageous, let him ask for Mrs. Ayuso’s resignation from the Community of Madrid even if it costs him his position, like Mr. Casado,” Sánchez reminded him.
Pablo Casado was president of the PP in 2022 when he denounced that the autonomous community of Madrid had awarded a contract, in the midst of the pandemic, to the company of a friend of Isabel Díaz Ayuso’s brother.
In a statement, the Madrid president then admitted that his brother had asked for 55 thousand euros (plus VAT) for obtaining masks in China, but the complaint against Díaz Ayuso earned Casado the job, replaced by Núñez Feijóo.
In Parliament, Sánchez also rebuked the current PP leader for his previous ties to drug kingpin Marcial Dorado: “It was you who formed that friendship with a drug trafficking boss. And this is the big difference between me and you – said the president of the government -. With this track record, you have managed to rise to the top of your political party. And in my party you wouldn’t even have become a city councilor.”
“Sánchez seeks my personal destruction”
Díaz Ayuso spoke Wednesday from Leganés, about half an hour from Puerta del Sol. He held his government meeting there and defended himself.
“Pedro Sánchez is immersed in political and economic corruption and this will not cover him, even if he asks for my resignation a thousand times,” he said.
“The president of the government that tomorrow (Thursday) will approve the most corrupt law in democracy, the one that grants amnesty to criminals and suspected terrorists, has asked for my resignation. I imagine him trying to cover up that scandal,” underlined Díaz Ayuso. He was therefore referring to the amnesty law for the Catalan independence movement that Congress will discuss and almost certainly approve on Thursday 14 March.
“He tries to destabilize me through my personal destruction when the only one destroyed here is him,” he insisted.
And she clarified what she knows, in her opinion, about the situation her boyfriend is going through: “As far as I know, my partner is undergoing a wild tax audit that affects 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and now 2022, for delay the almost 600 thousand euros that the Treasury owes you”.
“It is false that he is the one who owes 350 thousand euros for fraud,” Díaz Ayuso said. Not only does he owe nothing, but the Treasury owes him something.”
And he defended him: “He is a private citizen besieged by all the power of a state because he is my partner. Would we be talking about all this if he wasn’t my partner? “How many million tax audits are there every year?”
“It’s a crazy inspection. Here there are no conspiracies or ghost companies as they say – he underlined -. “It is a scandalous political persecution in which everything smells of darkness.”
Isabel Díaz Ayuso today lives with her partner in an apartment in Chamberí that the Spanish press values at close to a million euros.
“It’s not a million-dollar (apartment), it’s not mine, it’s mortgaged, it’s legal,” he said Wednesday.
“I have been renting for almost 20 years,” added Díaz Ayuso. I accompany my partner who lives at home. He is an individual and can buy any house he wants. And I have the right to sleep in the bed I choose and that doesn’t mean I’m responsible for anything.”
less fruit
“I ask Mrs. Ayuso for more transparency and less fruit,” quipped the government spokeswoman, Pilar Alegría, alluding to the reaction that Díaz Ayuso had the day Pedro Sánchez was sworn in as president and alluding to “a possible case of corruption.” linked to the president of the Community of Madrid.” The reference referred to the alleged enrichment of the Madrid president’s brother.
“Son of a bitch!” Díaz Ayuso exclaimed softly from his place as a guest at the Congress of Deputies. The cameras, which focused on her when Sánchez mentioned her, recorded the movement of his lips. Díaz Ayuso’s entourage wanted to tone down the outburst: “The president said: ‘I like fruit'”, was the justification.
Source: Clarin
Mary Ortiz is a seasoned journalist with a passion for world events. As a writer for News Rebeat, she brings a fresh perspective to the latest global happenings and provides in-depth coverage that offers a deeper understanding of the world around us.