The judge cites as a witness the teacher who provided Luis Medina with the contact of the cousin of the mayor of Madrid

Judge Adolfo Carretero, who is investigating the commissioners Luis Medina and Alberto Luceño, has summoned María Díaz de la Cebosa to testify as a witness, whom the brother of the Duke of Feria pointed out as the university professor who put him in touch with Carlos Martínez -Almeida, cousin of the current mayor of the Madrid City Council, José Luis Martínez-Almeida.

The judge thus accepts the request of Más Madrid and Podemos, appearing as popular accusations in the case, who consider this appearance key to clarify the chain of contacts that the accused followed until they reached the Consistory.

Through a letter dated Wednesday, the magistrate sets the interrogation of Díaz de la Cebosa, president of the private university The College for the International Studies (CIS University), for next May 9.

That same day, Elena Collado, the high-ranking City Council official in charge of Purchasing during the worst of the pandemic, was also summoned as a witness. She maintained the most regular contact with the commission agents —“We have been scammed for sure,” Collado wrote in a message to Luceño after detecting irregularities.

The judge has not yet decided whether to also summon Carlos Martínez-Almeida to testify.

Podemos asked the magistrate to call him as a defendant, while Más Madrid chose to request him as a witness.

But, before deciding, the magistrate has required his opinion from the rest of the parties present in the case.

As Medina explained in his statement before the judge last Monday, Díaz de la Cabeza was the first step they climbed to reach the City Council, which they allegedly swindled with the sale of defective sanitary material in March 2020, for which they charged almost six million euros in commissions.

The defendant assured that the teacher gave him the phone number of the mayor's cousin, who in turn gave him the contact for Collado.

The judge maintains that the brother of the Duke of Feria took advantage of his "influence" and "his status as a public figure."

“no obstacle”

For its part, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office has opposed the request of Más Madrid to also charge Fernando Sánchez, manager of the Municipal Funeral Services Company of Madrid, through which the commission agents' payments were managed.

The opposition party attributes to Sánchez an alleged crime of forgery and maintains that the City Council provided the public ministry with "order letters" of the acquired material different from those provided by the Funeral Services Company, despite the fact that "they should be exactly the same ”: “All of the above indicates that, possibly, these

modifications were made to make disappear or hide any link between the political position and the dictated administrative acts.”

A thesis that rejects Anticorruption.

“No essential element or requirement of the documents has been altered,” the public ministry points out in a letter dated April 26: “Contrary to what [Más Madrid] affirms, the submission of these documents has not been an obstacle to the investigation carried out by the Prosecutor's Office, as has not been assumed by any other action by the Madrid City Council or the Municipal Funeral Services Company of Madrid, which have responded promptly to all requirements, "he adds.

More complaints

In parallel, Podemos denounced this Thursday at the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and the European Prosecutor's Office new contracts signed during the pandemic by the Government of the Community of Madrid, chaired by Isabel Díaz Ayuso (PP).

The training has requested that the role of Vin Dore 24K SL and Air Global Medial SL "as suppliers of medical supplies" be investigated.

According to the party, none had "previous experience in this business" and there are indications of "payment of commissions in the millions."

Alejandra Jacinto, spokesperson for Podemos, explained the initiative: "We are denouncing that there are two companies that go from invoicing an average of 80,000 euros to more than 10 million euros each in a single year, in the year of greatest vulnerability, the of the pandemic, thanks to the contracts awarded by the Government of Ayuso”.

According to her account, the companies "were not engaged in the importation of medical supplies and, in fact, they changed their corporate purpose later."

In addition, she has described her accounting as "extremely opaque", "to the point that there are indications of the possible collection of commissions in the millions, which must be investigated by the prosecutors."

“This is another episode of possible irregularities that dot the entire management of the Community Government and the City Council”, she has riveted.