“The request for information from Recinos, Alabi and Sánchez-Brunete in Spain is the first novelty of the tax investigation,” says the publication. Recently, a US State Department report reflects that there was signs of corruption in the Bukele government, especially in purchases during the pandemic.
Investigations into the government’s handling of public resources during the pandemic remain afloat. The focus is now on Presidential Commissioner Carolina Recinos and Health Minister Francisco Alabi. Proof of this is that the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) has requested information from the Spanish Ministry of Justice on suspicion of “illicit negotiations on purchases made in 2020”, according to the Journal Factum.
The digital newspaper says in its publication that the Prosecutor’s Office has requested information from the Spanish businessman Francisco Javier Sánchez-Brunete Herraiz, who is the sole administrator of Javi Performance Parts SL, a company selling spare parts that sold medical equipment to the Ministry of Health (MINSAL) for $ 12 million.
“The request for information from Recinos, Alabi and Sánchez-Brunete in Spain is the first novelty of the tax investigation for more than $ 155 million in public purchases of medical supplies and food during the pandemic. The process of international assistance puts on the scene of the investigation Commissioner Recinos, who moves the threads of various decisions of the Executive, and who brought the baton of the expanded health cabinet to the start of the emergency. the contracts made, despite 17 irregularities that the Salvadoran press brought to light “, points out factum.
SEE: Spanish company that sold medical equipment to the Government of El Salvador has not been accountable for 7 years
What is known so far?
Ex-wife of the Presidential Commissioner
The prosecution is investigating the purchase of food services from the ex-wife of Presidential Commissioner Recinos, Blanca Judith Meléndez Portillo, for a sum of $ 549,359.41. Meléndez Portillo is the ex-partner of Herberth Orlando Recinos, brother of the civil servant, in addition to manager of Anchoring and Cooperation of Bandesal.
In July 2020, it became known that Meléndez Portillo was appearing as a contractor for the Ministry of Security and Justice, according to the second report on the management and execution of expenses to attend to the health emergency.
The Ministry of Security awarded him the contract called “Acquisition of food for staff that will support the Food Emergency Plan” in the framework of the national emergency decreed by the COVID-19 pandemic for a total of $ 549,359.41, according to today’s newspaper publication.
Sánchez-Brunete
As he recorded as well a publication of the Daily Today, On April 13 last year, the Government of El Salvador closed a contract where it agreed to buy from this small Spanish company 1,500,000 masks, 150,000 non-sterile medical gabachones and 300,000 non-sterile masks. All for a sum of $ 5,085,000. However, purchases amount to $ 11,927,050, according to documentation submitted to the Legislature.
Company building Javi Performance Parts SL located in Getafe, Spain. Its owner did not want to talk about the millionaire negotiation with the Salvadoran government. Photo: EDH / Archive
“Purchase order 148/2020 of the Institutional Procurement and Contracting Unit of the Ministry of Health establishes the purchase of 1,500,000 KN95-type masks at a cost of $ 2.04 each; 150,000 non-sterile medical gabachones priced at $ 8.00 each; and 300,000 acrylic masks at $ 2.75 each. Which adds up to $ 5,085,000 in the end. The document states that the money would come from the ‘Fopromid Donations Fund’. On behalf of the Government, Francisco José Alabi, Minister of Health, and Javier Sánchez Brunete Herraiz, as administrator of Javi Performance Parts SL, signed, “EDH stated in a July 2020 publication.
You could read: Ministry of Security gave food contract for $ 550,000 to ex-presidential commissioner
Factum states that according to Addendum No. 0000098, the company was exempted from filing insurance and bail, despite being a requirement required of suppliers as collateral.
“To be a supplier from abroad, advance payment would be made and in an ‘exceptional’ way the presentation of a guarantee of good investment in advance is not required”, it is established in the document that the Magazine has and that is signed by Alabi.
This would be paid for with money from donations from the Civil Protection, Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Fund (FOPROMID) which allowed the processes established in LACAP to be bypassed. The Citizen Oversight Committee revealed that this procedure was used by the Government to handle the $ 607.1 million approved by parliament without subjecting control to public funds.
In addition: Salut bought $ 11,927,050 in health tickets to a company that sells spare parts for performances in Spain
But that’s not all, “Francisco Javier Sanchez-Brunete Herraiz, according to the Spanish Mercantile Registry, continued to move in the business world after selling tickets to the Salvadoran government. On August 19, 2020, he to be appointed as joint and several administrator of PROMAUTO 2020 SL, a motor vehicle maintenance, sale and repair company and spare parts supplier, and days later, on September 9, 2020, he registered the company JSB Medical Supplier 2020 SL, for in the trade, exports and imports of electronic devices, health products, office furniture, among others. The same month also registered the company Madrid Trading Comerç 2020 SL to do business of medical tickets and other products “, describes Factum.
Francisco Alabi, the benchmark for health during the pandemic
The Health Minister allegedly bought $ 225,000 in medical supplies from his family’s company run by Celina Quiñónez, who is Alabi’s political aunt and mother of his cousins brothers José Ángel, Gonzalo and Violeta Montoya Quiñónez.
In addition, the MINSAL denied to the CICIES the document that stated the purchase of rubber boots for the aforementioned sum to the company Autodo.
The purchase consisted of 26,000 pairs of branded rubber boots “Tornado” at a unit price of $ 7.50 each pair excluding VAT, as detailed in the purchase order that appears on the state’s electronic purchasing system called Comprasal.
In an investigation of Cat closed it is revealed that Minister Alabi signed the purchase order 133/2020 and in it there is also the signature of Celina Quiñónez, in her capacity as a representative of the company Autodo SA de CV, but the detail is that Mrs. Quiñónez is the wife of the Minister’s uncle.
According to the journalistic investigation, the political aunt of Minister Alabi, is the president and legal representative of Autodo, a company that sells spare parts for vehicles. While her children and Alabi’s cousins, all surnamed Montoya Quiñónez, appear as members of the company’s board of directors, according to the National Records Center.
Recommend: Minister of Health bought $ 225,000 in medical supplies from his family’s business
In short, Minister Alabi bought state-funded products for use from the Ministry of Health which he chairs at a company of his kinship.
In addition, a report from the Court of Auditors reveals that MINSAL paid for the rent of a house to use as a containment center, the property is owned by Ángel Montoya, cousin of the Minister of Health and to make matters worse, it was never used for the stipulated purpose, all though the Government paid $ 12,000 for the lease.
The fact was admitted by Alabi himself to the Special Committee of the Assembly: “indeed, Angel Montoya has a family relationship with me.”
These are some of the main corruption findings that are in the sights of the authorities and where Government officials are involved.
Shopping during the pandemic, in the US sights
A report from the United States Department of State accounts for how during 2020 in the Nayib Bukele government there were signs of corruption, particularly in purchases aimed at mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to this report, although the Salvadoran legal framework punishes the misuse of public resources, “corruption and impunity remain endemic.”
In particular, the State Department reports multiple journalistic reports linking the Nayib Bukele government with irregularities and alleged acts of corruption in the acquisition of medical supplies and basic goods to address the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic and social crisis product of the closures of numerous industries.
“In June, July and August (2020), the local press reported on irregular government purchases of food, personal protective equipment and other inputs to combat the COVID-19 pandemic,” the report states.