The European Commission has begun investigations into whether EU funds have been misused in Spain’s Koldo corruption scandal, involving millions of euros in commissions for the purchase of face masks during the pandemic, and has sent relevant information to the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), according to Euractiv.
“The Commission will take all necessary steps to protect the EU budget and has zero tolerance against fraud”, a spokesperson for the European executive told Euractiv’s partner EFE on Wednesday.
Brussels “is in close contact with the national management authority” – the Spanish Finance Ministry – to “determine whether European funds” are involved in the scandal that has rocked Spain’s political arena since last week, the Commission’s spokesperson said.
“We are following the situation closely. The Commission has sent information on this to the European Anti-Fraud Office”, the spokesperson added.
While OLAF had not responded to EFE’s questions by Wednesday afternoon, sources at the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) said it “does not comment on ongoing investigations, nor does it publicly confirm which cases it is working on”.
However, the EPPO told EFE that it is obliged to “check any indications that the facts under investigation fall under its competence”.
Meanwhile, in Madrid, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez (PSOE/S&D) and Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of Spain’s largest opposition party, Partido Popular (PP/EPP), had a heated debate in parliament over the corruption case that has caught Brussels’ attention, EFE reported.
Feijóo accused Sánchez of being informed of the case.
“You knew about it, and you covered it up”, the conservative opposition leader stated.
As for Sánchez, he accused the PP leader of acting like a “Torquemada”, alluding to the Spanish inquisitor Tomás de Torquemada by demanding “cleanliness” and clarity in the case, ignoring the fact that the PP has been rocked by several serious corruption cases in recent years.
As internal tensions grow within the PSOE over the case, the main man affected by the media attention, former transport minister José Luis Ábalos, and Sánchez’s former right-hand man, reiterated his innocence in several media interviews on Wednesday.
