We can denounce two contracts awarded by Almeida to the company of Carabante's brother

Roberto Sotomayor has denounced before the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor the two contracts awarded by the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, to the company in which the brother of the Mobility Councilor, Borja Carabante, works for a possible crime of prevarication and trafficking of influences.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
01 February 2023 Wednesday 02:38
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We can denounce two contracts awarded by Almeida to the company of Carabante's brother

Roberto Sotomayor has denounced before the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor the two contracts awarded by the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, to the company in which the brother of the Mobility Councilor, Borja Carabante, works for a possible crime of prevarication and trafficking of influences

The Podemos candidate for Mayor of Madrid has presented the letter this Wednesday based on "what is established in articles 264 and 262 of the Criminal Procedure Law." The registered complaint states that on August 17, 2020, the Councilor for Mobility of the City Council, Borja Carabante, accepted the proposal of the awarding table for the award of the contest "Drafting of the Execution Project of the Paseo Verde del Suroeste (burying the A5 - Paseo de Extremadura).

The company awarded the contract, for a final amount of €2,543,178.75, turned out to be UTE ESTEYCO, S.A. – SUBTERRA INGENIERÍA, S.L., in which he works as head of the Delineation Department Rafael Carabante, brother of Councilor Borja Carabante.

A day later, on August 18, 2020, Carabante annulled his decision and asked Mayor Almeida by letter to abstain in a process that the council has kept secret. The councilor decreed that he accepted Borja Carabante's request to abstain from awarding the contract and ordered his spokesperson, Inmaculada Sanz, to replace him.

Despite the substitution, the municipal spokesperson for the Madrid City Council, Inmaculada Sanz, proceeded to the final award of the project for the burying of the A-5 to the same company, publishing it on the Contracting Portal on October 13, again with the signature of Inmaculada Sanz.

In addition, the complaint includes a second contract that took place in November 2020 that "Almeida awarded for 187,000 euros to the same company where the brother of his Mobility councilor works, and which would be focused on technical assistance for supervision of Calle 30 projects".

In the opinion of Podemos, "the subjective assessment of the technicians in the Borja Carabante area was once again decisive in this second contract," and it awarded this and the previous contract to the Subterra joint ventures. In short, sources from Podemos assure that "both contracts seem to include alleged irregularities that may constitute criminal evidence in the awarding of contracts."

Suspicions of corruption were launched yesterday in Cibeles by the councilor of Más Madrid, Miguel Montejo marking the course of the municipal plenary session held at the City Hall.

After listening to the positions of the opposition, the mayor denied that there is any irregularity in the awarding of the contract, and has warned that he will take the accusations "without evidence" to court.

"Let it be clear, whoever accuses without evidence we will see the courts," Almeida said yesterday, adding that "such serious accusations must be accompanied by a minimum amount of evidence" because they call into question the honor and political or professional career of people .

Almeida maintained that he does not know of "not a single indication that irregularities could have been committed," and that the companies that participated in the award of the contract did not find it either.

Regarding the accusations, the mayor said that "it is the only way for the left to win elections", "smearing and staining the names of people", not only politicians, but others "whose only sin is having a family relationship with someone who is in politics".