An exclusive from elDiario.es tightens the net around the former Minister of Finance Cristóbal Montoro. The association Madrid Network paid 402,584 euros to Equipo Económico SL, a company founded by Montoro himself, through 15 payments made in a single day, on February 21, 2012, when the leader had already been two months at the head of the Ministry of Finance.
Montoro, who had already been Minister of Finance for the Popular Party between the years 2000 and 2004 with the Government of José María Aznar, returned to the position in December 2011 with the Executive of Mariano Rajoy, at the head of the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations, a responsibility he held until 2018.
A bank statement to which this medium has had access accredits those movements, made from a Madrid Network account at Cajasol, an entity that later integrated into Caixabank. For the moment, neither the association nor the company have offered explanations about this massive payment in a single day.
The payments occurred in a particularly sensitive context. Madrid Network, promoted by the former Madrid president Esperanza Aguirre, drags a hole of 70 million euros in public coffers due to the defaults of a loan granted by the Community of Madrid in 2011. Furthermore, it keeps in limbo another 31.5 million undelivered to the current regional Executive.
The relationship between Madrid Network and Equipo Económico dates back to 2008, when both entities signed two contracts for “service lease” for a total of 2,018,400 euros. One of them contemplated the “creation, maintenance and direction of an information and advisory service” on tax advantages for R&D&i companies, while the second included strategic advice in this area and even the possibility of proposing regulatory changes.
However, according to a report from the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard incorporated into the summary proceedings, Equipo Económico would have charged 1,863,025 euros corresponding to invoices issued between December 2008 and December 2011. This opens the question about the 402,584 euros paid in February 2012.
The case is also framed within the judicial investigation opened in a court in Tarragona, where Montoro and another 27 people are being investigated for allegedly favoring with legal changes companies in the gas sector.
