The Ministry of Finance from the time of Cristóbal Montoro is under judicial scrutiny after a judge has opened an investigation promoted by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office to uncover a network of influences to modify laws dictated by companies in exchange for succulent "covert commissions" that would end up in the hands of the office that Montoro himself founded before entering politics.
The crux of the case is whether the tax advisory firm Equipo Economico (EE) was a cover for a covert lobby that sold its relations with the Treasury, as it was directed by Montoro. Although he was no longer linked to the firm, his brother Ricardo did until 2012.
The suspicions of the Mossos d'Esquadra and Civil Guard, which are behind the investigation, are that certain companies, specifically the gas companies included in the Association of Industrial and Medicinal Gas Manufacturers (AGGIM), would have paid a cost well above the market by certain reports prepared by the US.
This surcharge, always according to the investigations, would really be the payment of "covert commissions" to influence the Ministry of Finance at the highest level. The influence was aimed at carrying out legal reforms that benefit paying companies, for example to obtain tax rebates or tax reductions.
This alleged plot has been operating since 2008, as reflected in several resolutions of the Provincial Court of Tarragona, which has had to review several appeals filed by the Prosecutor's Office against the orders of the Investigative Court number two of Tarragona, in charge of the case.
Montoro was Minister of Finance between 2000 and 2004 and then between 2011 and 2017, first with the Government of José María Aznar and then with Mariano Rajoy. During these periods, members of the office also ended up in various positions linked to the ministry.
The instructor has had the investigation open since 2018 when he received the Anti-Corruption complaint for the crimes of bribery, fraud against the public administration, prevarication, influence peddling, prohibited negotiations, embezzlement, against the Public Treasury, money laundering, corruption in business , falsification of documents, against free competition and membership in a criminal organization.
What we are trying to find out is whether Equipo Economico – previously called Montoro Asociados – would have charged large sums of money to influence the Ministry of Finance and the Tax Agency. This matter, of enormous complexity, has already been analyzed by the Provincial Court of Tarragona itself, which has questioned some parts of the investigation.
Although it supports the development of the investigation, in one of the resolutions dated last year, it questions the proportionality of carrying out some burdensome measures for those investigated, such as certain interventions. The court understands that certain measures "cannot be supported by mere conjectures or forecasts of prospective effectiveness."
The investigation focuses on a plot whose purpose - according to the records - “would be none other” than to intervene and influence “decisively” favorable legislative reforms for the gas companies included in the AGGIM, as explained by the Court.
To do this, they allegedly hired the services of Equipo Economico, the consultancy founded by Montoro. As stated in an order from the Provincial Court of Tarragona, the members of the Economic Team held positions “at the highest level” of the Government, Central and Regional Administration, “creating a network of influence over senior officials and officials of the Ministry of Finance to obtain tax benefits in favor of said gas companies, through legislative modifications that entailed a reduction in the electricity tax for said companies.”
The records explain that the amounts obtained “for said services due to their amount and legal void are covert commissions to achieve the intended legislative reforms.”
Anti-corruption has been behind Montoro's office for some time. He already initiated an investigation that resulted in a complaint in the Madrid courts, although it ended up being archived. The former head of the Treasury created the office in 2006, after leaving the Government of José María Aznar. Two years later he sold all of his shares to return to his political career as an economic spokesperson in Congress when the PP was in opposition.
Montoro y Asociados was founded precisely by the economic team of Rodrigo Rato during the Aznar governments: Ricardo Martínez Rico (former Secretary of State for Budgets); Ricardo Montoro, (brother of the former minister); Salvador Ruiz Gallud (former director of the Tax Agency), among others. In that 2017 complaint, which ended up being filed, a contract from the Chambers of Commerce to the Economic Team office in 2013 was investigated.
After that investigation, Anticorruption initiated another following a finding by the General Criminal Investigation Commission of the Mossos d'Esquadra, which initiated joint investigations with the Civil Guard. Given the years that the case has been open, its complexity is evident.
