The judge investigating the alleged fraud of four million euros to the Government of the Canary Islands in the purchase of a batch of FFP3 masks at the beginning of the covid-19 pandemic has summoned the president of the community, Ángel Víctor Torres (PSOE), as a witness, as confirmed to Efe by sources from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.
Torres, whose summons has been advanced by Canarias 7, will testify on November 2 in the manner he prefers: in writing or in person before the investigating judge and the representatives of the prosecution and defense, as allowed by the Criminal Procedure Law due to his position.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office cites him as a member of the Emergency Committee that managed, on behalf of the Government of the Canary Islands, the main decisions taken during the state of alarm, such as the purchase of sanitary material when the markets were closed or subject to a daily auction due to the high existing demand.
The President of the Canary Islands, Ángel Víctor Torres, has requested to testify in writing before the judge investigating the alleged fraud of 4 million euros in the purchase of masks for any clarification that may be necessary, and has reaffirmed his desire to collaborate with justice "so that every last euro is recovered".
"I said from the first moment that the Government of the Canary Islands was at the disposal of justice to clarify this case and to recover every last euro," stressed the regional president, who pointed out that the Public Prosecutor asked the judge to submit a series of questions to the Presidency of the Government, which were received at the end of July.
The legal services of the Executive have already sent the corresponding certificate "and this information is being completed," explained Ángel Víctor Torres, who understands that for reasons "of urgency and procedure" he has requested the possibility of testifying in writing.
The president has stressed his willingness to collaborate with justice for any clarification that may be necessary with the aim "that this is clarified and, most importantly, that every last euro is recovered, which is nothing more than the key will that the Government of the Canary Islands and I as president have."
Mask Case
The defendants in this procedure are the director of the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS), Conrado Domínguez; the former director of Economic Resources of this body, Ana María Pérez; and the businessman Rayco Rubén González, administrator of RR7 United, the company that was commissioned to purchase one million FFP3 masks abroad, which were paid for but never delivered to public health.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office charges both Domínguez and Pérez with a crime of prevarication and another of influence peddling, because it suspects that they chose a firm without experience in importing sanitary material (RR7 is dedicated to the sale of cars) because its owner was known to a friend of the director of the Canary Islands Health Service, a person who also mediated in the operation.
For his part, Rayco Rubén González faces charges for a crime of aggravated fraud and money laundering.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office observes irregularities in two moments of that operation: in the initial order to RR7 in May 2020, to which this firm responded by trying to import a batch of one million N-95 masks of the 3M brand that were seized and destroyed at the customs of the Gran Canaria airport, because they were counterfeits; and a year later, in June 2021, when the SCS gave the company a second chance, with the initial contract already resolved, if it imported 1.2 million Honeywell masks on account of the four million euros that it had already received.
The masks never arrived and, to this day, the Government of the Canary Islands has not yet recovered the four million euros paid in advance to RR7 when making the initial order.
So far, the three defendants and four witnesses (three officials from the Canary Islands Health Service and the intermediary Samuel Machín, the alleged common friend who put Conrado Domínguez in contact with Rayco Rubén González) have already testified before the Investigating Judge number 7 of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
Domínguez has defended before the judge that he always complied with the current legislation for contracting at each moment (the norm was changing during the state of alarm) and that they are still working to recover the money, while Ana María Pérez has said that she complied with the instructions that her superiors were giving her and Rayco Rubén González has availed himself of his right to remain silent.
Two of the officials told the judge that they advised the director of Economic Resources not to pay the entire amount of the contract in advance (two payments of two million each were made), because they saw a risk of suffering a scam and had doubts about the solvency of the company in charge, RR7 United. EFE
