Canal de Isabel II headquarters in Madrid. SANTI BURGOS

There are wars that are won in offices.

Canal de Isabel II, which together with the Metro is the largest public company in Madrid, is putting out to tender a contract with an estimated value of 1,183,680 euros (plus VAT) to influence politicians, journalists and opinion leaders in Colombia.

The reason?

That at the end of 2021, the South American country applied a law designed against paramilitaries and drug traffickers to expropriate and transfer the shares with which the Spanish company controlled the Triple A company in Barranquilla.

The local Prosecutor's Office considers that one of the Canal's subsidiaries charged this entity more than 60 million for technical advice that did not occur.

And since then, the Spanish company, which denies that extreme, has been fighting on three fronts to recover Triple A: the diplomat, with contacts at the highest level thanks to the help of the Spanish embassy;

the lawful,

with the millionaire hiring of a law firm;

and that of influence, with this new contract for which some of the companies of

than those operating in Spain.

“The object of the contract is the provision of technical assistance services in

and strategic communication with the aim of developing a strategy to defend corporate interests and recover the investment in relation to the early disposal procedure of 82.16 % of the shareholding that Canal Extensia America SA owns in the Triple A of Barranquilla”, reads the official documentation published on the contracting portal of the Community of Madrid.

The Channel took control of Triple A in Barranquilla in 2001, through Inassa, which was judicially investigated in the

Since 2018, its actions have been frozen by the local Prosecutor's Office, which considers that Inassa charged Triple A more than 60 million euros for technical advice that did not occur, and that at the end of 2021 it activated the "early alienation" mechanism.

That is to say, an expropriation that affects a company that had a turnover of 150 million euros last year.

“As soon as the decision was made known, Canal de Isabel II, in its International division, brought these facts to the attention of the Spanish Embassy, ​​and the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Trade, which have shown their support and collaboration in the defense of the interests of this company”, explained then a spokesman for the Spanish company, whose CEO, Pascual Fernández, spent almost 7,000 euros to travel between April 23 and 26 to Bogotá, according to information posted on the transparency portal.

"Canal de Isabel II Internacional will protect its investments and will continue to defend the company's economic and patrimonial interests before all the corresponding judicial instances and, where appropriate, before the World Bank's international arbitration court."

As an accompaniment to these steps, the Channel is now looking for a company that has an office in Colombia or is willing to open one to direct a

strategy in defense of its interests.

And what does that mean?

The successful bidder will have as its mission, according to the official documentation, to carry out political advocacy campaigns;

design and manage a government relations strategy in Colombia;

provide support in relations with international organizations such as the World Bank, the IMF or the OECD;

and contact opinion leaders and journalists.

In other words: the objective is to influence to create a climate of opinion favorable to the interests of Canal de Isabel II in Colombia, and communicate "to combat crisis situations due to the risk of possible attacks on the company."

Santo Domingo and Ecuador

However, this is not the only problem that the Canal has in America.

Quite the contrary.

At the beginning of the year, the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso authorized that AAA Dominicana, a company controlled by Canal de Isabel II in the Dominican Republic, may submit to an arbitration process to obtain compensation for "the early termination" of the public contract that had in the country for the management of water in Santo Domingo.

The American authorities justify the end of the agreement in its "damage to the State".

In fact, the Canal is not even the only public company from Madrid with problems in America.

The Madrid Metro is also putting out to tender a legal representation service in Ecuador, where it is litigating against the government for a fine of 1.4 million dollars (1.2 euros) for an alleged failure to categorize the indirect contracts signed with the City Council of Quito in 2010 and 2011. Metro, according to public documentation, has requested the annulment of the sanction, pointing out the "multitude of inconsistencies, errors and falsehoods" in which, in its opinion, the Ecuadorian Comptroller's Office has incurred.

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