The President of Congress, Francina Armengol, minimized this Monday the importance of the complaint that Vox plans to file against her following the messages which, according to the report of the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard known the last week, spoke with Koldo García Izaguirre about a possible contract for the acquisition of PCR tests when he presided over the Balearic government.
“It’s not the first time,” Armengol told Congress, questioned about this decision by those of Santiago Abascal, in reference to the complaint presented to him in 2013 for alleged prevarication when he did not see any crime in authorizing the use of co-official languages in the Lower House without having yet approved the reform of the Rules which subsequently covered their use. This complaint was rejected by the Supreme Court.
Last week, Armengol already pointed out that with the aforementioned UCO report “his version of events is corroborated” and what he told Congress that he did not negotiate contracts with the conspiracy. He also expressed his desire for Justice to go “to the end” in this matter.
According to the latest UCO report, Koldo García contacted Armengol directly in August 2020 to ask him to hire a company, Eurofins Megalab SA, to acquire PCR tests. Armengol put him in touch with the Minister of Health, who in turn referred the question to the technicians.
During her appearance before the congressional commission investigating the rental of masks, the former president of the Balearic Islands admitted that she knew Koldo García and, although she does not remember all their communications from At this point, she denied “with complete certainty and categorization” that she had spoken with him about hiring a company.
For its part, the PSIB-PSOE assured that “there was no contract” with the company Eurofins Megalab SA to guarantee the control of ports and airports – a contract mentioned in a UCO report – and was indignant because there is a. trying to link this to other subsequent contracts signed with the same company to “organize with it the carrying out of diagnostic tests, because in 2021, after Christmas 2020, it was decided that the government would assume the PCR of citizens who had to travel from the Peninsula to this autonomous community.
This is how the parliamentary spokesperson of the PSIB-PSOE, Iago Negueruela, spoke this Monday, during a press conference, who also criticized the announcement of new complaints from Hazte Oir and Vox against the former president of the Balearic government. the last two legislatures and, currently, general secretary of the party in the Islands and president of the Congress, Francina Armengol. “It is not new that the extreme right acts like the extreme right,” he stressed.
Concretely, regarding the contracts concluded by the government during the pandemic, Iago Negueruela reiterated that the Armengol executive “did not contract the PCR tests proposed by Koldo García”. So much so, he added, “that controls at ports and airports were carried out by the government with its own staff”.
The socialist spokesperson insisted in this sense on the fact that the report of the UCO of the Civil Guard “confirms”, at least in his opinion, “what President Armengol, her advisors and her officials have already said to the commissions of inquiry: “How is it that each proposal The one that arrived was referred to the Ministry of Health, where it was analyzed by the technicians.” “So much so that the Armengol government rejected the RAPs proposed by Koldo García.” “, he stressed.
Also asked about other administration contracts with the company Eurofins Megalab, SA, Negueruela clarified that these “were subsequent, without the intermediation of anyone, and with the aim of carrying out diagnostic tests for residents who lived on the Peninsula and who wanted to fly to the islands.
Concretely, the PSIB spokesperson indicated that “the three companies with the greatest presence in Spanish territory and, therefore, with the greatest capacity to cover the health network were hired”. As Negueruela detailed, these were “Eurofins Megalab, with 150 laboratories, Quirón, with 41 laboratories, and Med, with 13 hospitals in the Spanish Levante, and” furthermore “it was the resident who chose the center which was to carry out the test. “, he clarified.
It is for this reason that the socialist rejected any connection between the alleged plot and the offer of Koldo García and the contracts subsequently made by the Armengol government.
“I’m angry, of course, I’m angry because people I have a duty to trust, like a minister – in reference to the former Minister of Public Works José Luis Ábalos – or an advisor – Koldo García – are in difficulty – alleged corruption conspiracy – disgusts me and I hope that justice will act with full force because, for a party like the PSOE, which has always dedicated itself to pursuing this type of actions, if they did, well, hey.” , he declared.
“Now,” continued the socialist spokesperson, “my party acted from the first moment. » “We didn’t break any hard drives, we didn’t burn anything, we didn’t try to make deals with strange treasurers, and the people who are not yet on trial but who allegedly committed all of this were expelled and if justice proves their alleged involvement, which I hope it does, and that condemns them, perfect “We will understand that it is just because taking advantage of the worst pandemic to be able to make a profit disgusts me.” he pointed out.
And, regarding the fact that the popular accusations will demand an investigation of the president of Congress and former president of the government, Francina Armengol, of the former minister Ábalos, of the CEO of Globalia, Juan José Hidalgo, and of the The former Minister of Health, Patricia Gómez, the socialist recalled that “entities like Hazte Oir have filed lawsuits against Ms. Armengol and against half of the socialist party for 1,001 questions, so it is not new that the extreme right exercises the extreme right. It is also not new that Vox is suing the PSOE and the president of Congress because it has done so from the amnesty law to the use of language.”
Faced with this scenario, Negueruela recalled that “justice has not opened any investigation or testimony from anyone from the islands or the previous government under investigation.” “There is no type of investigation regarding the previous government, even though there are already at least five or six reports carried out by the UCO,” he stressed.
