The Andalusian Foundation for Training and Employment Fund (Faffe) was dissolved in 2011 but, like the deceased of Tenorio, it is in good health. One year after the sentence which condemned its former director, Fernando Villén, to six years in prison for having paid public money into brothels, and after two commissions of inquiry in the Andalusian Parliament (the second not closed but in state of hibernation), once again jumped into the political arena when we now know of a report that the Civil Guard submitted to the judge in February and which details its actions, for example to hire relatives and friends of PSOE officials.
The striking irregularities detailed in the report served the PP to rekindle this fire, even threatening to reactivate a commission of inquiry into which life had already been breathed, coinciding with up to three electoral processes. Today, it also serves as a shield against the revelations according to which the Andalusian government split “in fraud of the law” thousands of contracts that it had awarded by hand, to which is added the first judicial investigation opened against the government of Juan Manuel Moreno for using a repealed law for million-dollar contracts with private health care.
The judge made this decision after a complaint from the PSOE, which understands that the people are now using the Faffe as a parapet in these cases. For the PP, on the other hand, it is the opposite: it is the socialists who are using the issue of health contracts as a “smokescreen” to hide the new revelations about Faffe, which also coincide with the trial of a another former director of the PP. foundation which is accused of being paid without going to work.
“Destroy the mail”
In this political context, the report produced by the Civil Guard analyzing 235,125 emails (including 24,576 unopened) exchanged between officials and technicians of the Faffe during its years of activity, between 2003 and 2011, revealed irregularities in the ‘investigation. the awarding of contracts to companies, in the management of public subsidies and in the hiring of personnel, since several cases have been detected in which indications have been given for the hiring of parents and persons related to those responsible for the PSOE, such and how it happened ABC.
The most obvious case is the message from an official who urges Faffe’s personnel manager to hire several people who detail their family ties to PSOE officials or activists, also giving him a very specific instruction: “Destroy the mail after using it. “I do not see what functions to assign to two of them”, admits another directive to justify the hiring of two people, to which are added declarations on two others “who must enter and do not have the profile “. “Later, we fix the problem or tell him that these are the files of his delegate”, in apparent reference – according to the researchers – to the then head of the Employment Department of Seville, Antonio Rivas.
The report details several instances that allegedly show that during the foundation’s years of operation, contracts were entered into that “were they build artificially, in order to hire certain people, without taking into account the real needs of the Administration, nor the criteria established for these procedures, such as merit, capacity, equality and publicity. There is thus “coordination between the different departments of the Faffe and its senior officials for the hiring of certain personnel”, “simulating” a normal administrative process to “give the hiring apparent legality”.
“The idea is to invent a project”
Thus, unnecessary hiring is carried out, even through companies that serve as a gateway to recruit the worker and, subsequently, sign contracts with Faffe to cover his salary “plus a percentage, which would have been around 15%.” as an advantage for him. the company. » The researchers go so far as to define it as a “usual practice” that staff are hired “taking into account their personal relationships with Faffe officials and/or public officials and, subsequently, build a procedure. » One of the messages is particularly enlightening in this sense: “The idea is to invent a project to perpetuate certain people in the programs. The others will go into the streets. »
Beyond the social aspect, the investigation points to other irregularities, starting with the fact that “it is striking” that the emails of those responsible for the foundation do not appear on the hard drive provided at the time to the Court. Even though the trail can be partially followed in chains of conversations, the conclusion is that these accounts “would have been emptied before delivery”.
Regarding the award of contracts with companies, the Civil Guard emphasizes that – “with the necessary collaboration of Faffe officials” – with several companies, which are repeated several times, the contractual commitments were agreed verbally “without respect the legally established procedure. established”. Subsequently, “an administrative file would be constituted ad hoc”, to the point that the company itself was responsible for carrying out the part corresponding to the administration.
There were changes of dates to respect legal deadlines, false proposals to give the impression of competitive competition, a determination by the interested party of the subject of the contract… Indeed, on the part of the Faffe Directorate in Granada, indications were requested for a contract and the response was instructions to “simulate legal proceedings”. Payments were also split so that allocations could be made by hand, in addition to this, contracts were detected to cover services that the recipient company was already providing.
The umpteenth political resurrection
Finally, irregularities were also detected in the justification of the aid received by Faffe itself. The report here highlights cases in which attempts are made to “simulate an expenditure which would avoid returning public funds, corresponding to a subsidy, which would not be justified”. This leads to the conclusion that “it is logical to think” that the services invoiced “would not actually have been carried out”.
This accumulation of irregularities has led the PP to suggest that there are arguments to bring the Faffe parliamentary commission, the second on this issue, out of its hibernation. The justification – which is understood politically as a warning to the navigators of the PSOE, to counter its complaint regarding health contracts – would be this report delivered in February on events that occurred 15 years ago and already judged as its centerpiece, although There are still open questions. consequences.
The majority of the PP, Ciudadanos and Vox which elevated Juan Manuel Moreno to the position of President of the Council in 2019 then promoted a first commission of inquiry in the Andalusian Parliament. Socialist leaders paraded there, including former presidents like Manuel Chaves and Susana Díaz, even though when he took office in 2013, the foundation had already been closed for two years.
The right-wing majority then prepared a proposed opinion, which assigned political responsibilities to Chaves and José Antonio Griñán, while criticizing Díaz for not doing enough as president to investigate the matter. As the work was about to end, Moreno brought forward the Andalusian elections to 2022. And although in principle the PP emphasized that they were going to look for formulas so that the conclusions did not decline, in the end they preferred reconstitute it and start from scratch with the corresponding list of those who appear, now on the brink of the municipal elections of May 2023.
The last peak of activity was reached when Pedro Sánchez also brought forward the general elections, which took place in July last year. Since then, little has been known about a commission on which only PP and Vox sit but which can now thrive again thanks to the latest police report. What the people are clear and will affirm with their absolute majority is that there will be no commission of inquiry into health contracts as requested by the left opposition, because they insist on the fact that there is no case and that it would be bowing to the “fan tactics” of the PSOE… so that we no longer talk about the Faffe.
