WORLD NEWS: The use that Barrabés made of Sánchez’s words adds a key element to the influence that Begoña exerted in his favor
World News Update:
The following report highlights an important international development currently attracting worldwide attention.
The Barrabés Group used to its advantage, before the public entity Red.es, the praise that the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, had given it during the speech he gave at an event on January 22, 2021. On the other hand, months before, the owner of this company, Juan Carlos Barrabés, had provided endorsements signed by, among others, Begoña Gómez, Sánchez’s wife, to two award processes called, precisely, by Red.es. This coincidence provides a key element when it comes to determining whether the business group was able to benefit from its good relationship with the Government to obtain advantages in public awards. The Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard has found evidence that Barrabés was arbitrarily benefited in the tenders to whose award processes he contributed the letters signed by Gómez. And not only in those two cases, but in a third, in which he was also the winner of a contract valued at four million public euros, which brings the total amount obtained to almost 15 million. Praise from Pedro Sánchez to the Barrabés group, on January 22, 2021. But before being the winner in these three cases, on January 27, 2021, when Red.es was still finalizing the evaluation of the offers presented – among them, the three from Barrabés; two of them, endorsed by Gómez—, the CEO of the group, Luis Miguel Ciprés, wrote an e-mail to the director of Digital Economy of Red.es, Luis Prieto. The latter was none other than the person in charge of signing, in the three awards, the valuation reports, a key element to select some bidders and discard others. Ciprés reminded Prieto that, a few days before, Sánchez had referred in commendable terms to the SME digitalization platform Attitude Academy, promoted by the Barrabés Group. In fact, it mentions that “Carlos”—Juan Carlos Barrabés—had also thought it was a “good idea to update” Prieto on this circumstance. “To tell you all this, without any other pretension than that, tell it to you,” Ciprés clarifies in the email. Email from the Barrabés Group to a director of Red.es endorsing the praise received from Pedro Sánchez. EE Next, he tells him: “Just last Friday, we were surprised that Pedro Sánchez mentioned and recognized him at a public event, which also made us very excited.” In the next paragraph of the email he alludes to the award processes that, at that time, were underway in Red.es and to which the Barrabés Group aspired: “As we are waiting for some resolution of the specifications with you, it may not be appropriate to do so until said resolution.”But, then, Ciprés assesses that, “as they are unconnected and independent topics, we can see it whenever you want, if you think there is no problem with that [las adjudicaciones pendientes]””Carlos told me [Barrabés] “If David wants to be there, he would also do to get involved,” the email concludes. The “David” to whom Ciprés refers is none other than David Cierco, who was, at that time, general director of Red.es, a public business entity dependent on the Government that promotes the digital transformation of SMEs and the Administration. On the other hand, between 2020 and 2021, Juan Carlos Barrabés visited Begoña Gómez four or five times at the Moncloa Palace, where lives. There they talked about business and common projects. In a recent resolution, Judge Juan Carlos Peinado—who is investigating both the businessman and Sánchez’s wife—has already highlighted the “temporal coincidence” between those meetings and the award processes that the businessman would end up winning.”[Hay una] temporal coincidence of that relationship [entre Begoña y Barrabés] with the issuance of letters of support [por parte de Gómez; las mismas que el empresario presenta en dos procesos de licitación]”, noted Peinado.Barrabés was also part of the teaching staff of the master’s degree assigned to the university chair that Begoña Gómez began directing in mid-2020. Praise from Sánchez What did Sánchez say, in January 2021, about Barrabés, shortly before he obtained the Red.es contracts? In a public event held in January 2021, the leader of the Executive stated the following: “I want to highlight an initiative that they [Grupo Barrabés] They launched, in March 2020, and it is that Attitude Academy platform, which is a free platform to help SMEs digitize their workforces and their operations during this health emergency that we are suffering.” Now—more than five years after that speech and that Barrabés had provided, months before, the letters signed by Gómez—, the UCO has found, when analyzing internal emails from Red.es, messages that reveal possible rigging. “It thinks that Barrabés’ is the good and the others have to go down, no matter what,” wrote one of the employees in charge of evaluating the contest criteria subject to value judgment. In response, another Red.es worker answered: “These are my notes… If there are preferences… it’s almost better to know beforehand. For me, [otras dos licitadoras] They are better. Better than Barrabes? What do I do?” “I don’t understand. With the one that is falling and they have us making numbers so that the super bosses can point with their fingers,” complained an evaluation technician. For the UCO, there was “a decisive arbitrariness” in the scoring of the offers. And the UTE (temporary union of companies) in which the Barrabés Group was integrated was the most benefited from this circumstance. The business group achieved, in total, almost 15 million euros through the three aforementioned public contracts, all of which were awarded. in 2021, months after Sánchez’s words, and with the endorsement, in two of those awards, of Gómez. In a report, the Civil Guard highlights that, when the President of the Government pronounced those praises, Red.es was finalizing the final evaluation of the offers presented to the three files, identified with the codes 014/20 ED, 016/20 ED and 044/20 ED. In effect, the first two contracts They were awarded on July 31, 2021. The third, in March of that same year, just three months after Sánchez’s words.
Global Impact:
Experts suggest the long-term impact of these developments may become clearer as more information emerges.
Additional reactions from governments and international institutions are expected as the situation evolves.
Stay tuned for further updates on this developing international story.
Source: This article was originally published by El Español – Home and adapted for our international English-speaking audience.
Read the original article here.