The UCO points to Aena for the alleged irregularity in the contracting of Acciona for the works of the Palma airport

PalmThe report by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard has revealed a possible scheme by the network linked to the former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), Santos Cerdán, to benefit from the renovation of the Palma airport terminal, a project worth over 198 million euros. This is according to the latest report, to which Europa Press had access, that investigators submitted to the Supreme Court as part of the 'Koldo case' concerning the relationship between Acciona and Servinabar, companies that allegedly benefited from irregularities in public works contracts. The investigators refer to a screenshot with handwritten notes found on the mobile phone of businessman Antxón Alonso, referencing 'Edificio Procesador Palma' (Palma Processor Building), which agents believe could be linked to the awarding of the contract to Acciona for the renovation of the Processor Building and Module 8 of Module 8, worth 8 million euros.

The references to Palma airport are included in a section of the UCO report that mentions a video call between Antxón Alonso and Justo Vicente Pellegrini. On this occasion, the report states, the screen of the device used for the meeting on June 10, 2020, displayed a document with handwritten notes divided into three groups.

On the one hand, the notation '500,000 m² of land' is observed, without any further context to interpret its meaning. Secondly, five points are seen in which 'Navantia', 'REE', 'Puente', 'PEC', and 'Edi' are mentioned. The Civil Guard, considering the first two to be public companies, understands that they could refer to a project linked to them that is of interest to Acciona. The UCO (Central Operative Unit) states that 'PeC' could be the acronym for Budget for Contract Execution, without further context. [This is incomplete in the original text.]

It should be remembered that in the same report, the Civil Guard's UCO indicates that the former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), Santos Cerdán, and his "family circle" benefited from Servinabar, one of the companies that allegedly benefited from the irregularities in the construction work. Payroll, house rentals, and a credit card, with high charges at a restaurant in Ibiza.

Aena has defended the transparency of the awarding of the contract to Acciona for the renovation works at Palma Airport terminal, which is under suspicion by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard for its possible connection to the network linked to the former Secretary of Organization of the PSOE (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), Santos Cerdán. The airport operator made this statement in a press release issued this Wednesday in response to the UCO report. The tender for the works, titled "Renovation of the Terminal Area of Palma Airport. Processing Building and Module A," Aena stated, had a value of almost 224 million euros and was published in both the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU) and on its website in October 2019. To ensure open competition, a 50-day period was given for submitting bids, Aena noted. In the first phase, seven companies or temporary joint ventures (UTE) submitted bids, and after reviewing the administrative and technical documentation, all of them met the minimum technical quality requirements stipulated in the tender specifications. As this was a negotiated procedure with prior publication, Aena emphasized that current legislation allowed companies to submit comments to identify errors and ambiguities in the project proposal without altering its scope or quality. Some of these comments were incorporated into the project, as well as other modifications resulting from the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). However, neither the tender amount nor the execution deadline was changed. Due to these changes, companies were offered the option to withdraw from the competition without penalty or submit a new technical and financial proposal, which only Acciona and Sacyr Construcció chose to do. The first bid was €198.46 million and the second, €223.48 million. Therefore, as Aena has explained, on April 26, 2022, its board of directors awarded the contract to Acciona, since it was the most economical option among all those that obtained the minimum required score. The airport operator has maintained that in all its procurement procedures, "a detailed and extensive process of analysis and preparation of the tender specifications" is carried out.