The Consumption Bonus that the Alicante Provincial Council launched in 2022 as a measure to revitalize commerce in the province’s towns after the drop in sales caused by the pandemic in 2020 and 2021 is under the magnifying glass of the Valencian Anti-Fraud Agency (AVA). The president of the Alicante Chamber of Commerce, Carlos Baño, and Carlos Mazón appear in the creation of the project and in its development, friends and “brothers”, according to the first of them.
Carlos Mazón was precisely the president of the provincial corporation when these bonds were launched between 2022 and 2023, and Baño is the administrator of the company Nexo Retail Alicante SL, an instrumental company created by the Federation of Commerce and SMEs of the Province of Alicante ( Facpyme) on July 13, 2022, a date that coincides with the launch of the Consumption Bonus Program. This company billed services to the town councils linked to the money injected by the provincial entity to the municipalities that requested it.
The proposal for the consumer bonuses consisted of the Alicante Provincial Council contributing an amount to the town councils with which 50% of the final consumer’s purchase was subsidized, thereby stimulating purchases at the lowest cost for citizens, while that the business invoiced what was expected. Between 2022 and 2024, the provincial entity has distributed 58 million euros in aid of this type, but the management is now in question and Antifraud is investigating possible irregularities.
The first to be identified was the Torrevieja City Council, governed by Eduardo Dolón (PP), who last year was asked by Antifraud to review the resolutions granting aid to the Association of Small and Medium Merchants of Torrevieja – despite that the call from the Provincial Corporation “required direct management” of the bond. And this was argued by stating that the city council granted the funds provided by the Alicante Provincial Council without competitive competition due to the “erroneous configuration” of the bases, which “improperly” attributed the status of beneficiary (instead of collaborating entity) to the association. For this reason, it asked the council to demand that the association be reimbursed for “improper granting” of a subsidy in the amount of 283,218.74 euros. Of that amount, the regional body has detected evidence that 107,871.03 euros had not been physically declared in form 347 of the Tax Agency, which could also be cause for refund.
Thus, the AVA established an alleged fraud of law in the council’s subsidies in the annuities of 2021 and 2022 in aid for trade. During the investigations, Antifraud also detected that the association included as justified expenses the services provided by a private company (Nexo Retail Alicante SL, managed by Carlos Baño), hired to be in charge of the computer platform for managing the bonus. The report criticizes that the expenses were included in agreements, which concealed “authentic contracts” with said company.
Danger to the neighbors’ pockets
Given this situation that the Torrevieja City Council was facing, Compromís took the issue to the Alicante Provincial Council showing its concern that the resolution of the Anti-Fraud Agency could lead to the residents of Torrevieja being forced to reimburse the funds spent in local businesses. .
But this situation could extend to more Alicante municipalities, given that the lack of planning has “generated difficulties” in bidding for the management of trade bonus subsidies in various places. Thus, they recalled that, given the urgency imposed by the Provincial Council and the lack of their own resources, “many municipalities have been forced to delegate the management of these bonds to their business associations or hire external companies.”
And the Anti-Fraud Agency has requested more information from several town councils about the management of the bonuses, specifically from those who contracted with the company Nexo Retail Alicante SL. Specifically, it claims “the procedure used for the selection of Facpyme/ Nexo Retail Alicante SL as a collaborating entity/contractor of the Consumption Bonus Program during the year 2022 and 2023.”
The investigators also want “the invoices or expenses approved and paid to the company Nexo Retail Alicante SL or to Facpyme during the years 2022 and 2023 within the framework of the Consumption Bonus Program or similar with an indication of the amount, concept attaching a copy of the Contract/Agreement of which derived from the same(s) and from the invoices/document supporting the referred expenses.”
And finally, the agency officials also request form 347 of the association and the company run by Baño and “the inclusion of expenses of the entities Facpyme or Nexo Retail Alicante SL in the supporting account for obtaining the subsidy from the Alicante Provincial Council for the consumption bonus program carried out by that administration during the 2022 and 2023 annuities.” City councils have ten days to provide this data to researchers.
Regarding the accounts of Nexo Retail Alicante, the company that, created in July 2022, invoiced 676,896 euros during the remaining five months of the year and achieved profits of 512,966 euros, which represents a profitability of more than 75%. In 2023 and with the year complete and with Carlos Mazón since July at the Palau de la Generalitat, the income of Nexo Retail Alicante fell to 371,627 euros, although the profits were 147,640 euros, according to the accounts deposited in the Commercial Registry. These two exercises are those investigated by the Anti-Fraud Agency.
Asked by Facpyme this Monday about the accounts requested by Anti-Fraud regarding city council contracts, the only response received is that any response must first go through the board.
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