The judge withdraws the passport and imposes appearances on the brokers Medina and Luceño

The Madrid judge instructing the so-called ‘mask case’, Adolfo Carretero, has imposed precautionary measures on businessmen Luis Medina and Alberto Luceño after concluding his first statement. The head of the Investigating Court number 47 has agreed, at the request of the popular accusations of the PSOE and Más Madrid, the withdrawal of the passport of both investigated for receiving 5.6 million commission for a contract of sanitary material to the Madrid City Council. He has also imposed fortnightly court appearances to limit his risk of flight.

In their short statement before the judge, Medina and Luceño have pointed out that not only did they do nothing illegal, but that the Malaysian provider was the one who agreed on the small print of their millionaire bonuses. Both have declared this Monday to Judge Carretero that the Asian businessman San Chin Choon was the person who agreed with them the extra costs of between 60% and 80% that were applied to the masks, gloves and diagnostic tests of the Covid- 19, who arrived at the town hall in the middle of the first wave of the pandemic, in April 2020.

Legal sources present at the interrogation, which barely lasted half an hour for each of those investigated, have explained the coincident strategy proposed in their first appearance before the instructor. A line of defense that coincides with the lack of collaboration of the Malaysian businessman with the investigation, as he communicated a few days ago to the judicial body.

Medina, in addition, has declared that he contacted the Madrid City Council through a call to the cousin of the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, stating that the commission of one million euros that he received in the sale of masks is “normal” within the commercial world.

The judge has questioned the commission agents for the alleged commission of crimes of fraud, money laundering and false documentation. In the case of Medina, he is also being investigated for an alleged seizure of assets.

The youngest son of Naty Abascal has testified for about half an hour and has only answered the judge’s questions, refusing to answer the prosecutor and the parties. Similarly, Luceño has appeared for almost 30 minutes and has not responded to the accusations either.

‘Paseo’

The aristocrat has arrived after 11:40 am by taxi to the judicial offices. As soon as he got out of the vehicle, he was surrounded by dozens of journalists who were waiting for him at the door and he reached the entrance pushed. He even at some point he has hit against the access fences.

Those investigated asked the dean of the courts to access the courts by car but the request was denied. In the corridor, Luis Medina has coincided with Alberto Luceño but they have sat with a distance between them separated by two benches, according to legal sources.

However, as soon as they saw each other they greeted each other and each one quickly went to a bank. Luis Medina told the prosecutor that his partner had not picked up the phone since August 2020.

According to legal sources, Luceño has deposited two watches on Monday to be added to the bail. In his statement, he has stated that the operation object of the procedure was his first business with the Malaysian company Leno and that the commission was usual in this type of operation.

Prosecutor Luis Rodríguez Sol, who signs the complaint, maintains that the commission agents, with the aim of obtaining “an exaggerated and unjustified economic benefit”, offered the Madrid City Council the possibility of acquiring “large consignments of medical supplies manufactured in China”.

The youngest son of Naty Abascal as an intermediary obtained a commission of one million euros, which he used to buy a sailboat for 325,515 euros and two investment bonds worth 200,000 euros each. The summary of the investigation revealed that days after receiving the transfers from the Malaysian company Leno, the aristocrat transferred the money to an account in the Netherlands, leaving one of his accounts practically empty and another in the red.

In the complaint, the prosecutor requested the seizure of the sailboat and the bank accounts. When the judge verified that he had less than 250 euros, he proceeded to set a bail of 981,000 euros at the request of Anticorruption, in which case of non-payment, the hereditary rights of the investigated person will be seized in relation to the inheritance of his grandmother, the Duchess of Medinaceli.

Medina is also being investigated for the alleged commission of a crime of concealment of assets after the magistrate verified that the person under investigation made dispositions of his bonds and assets since April 13, 2021, the date on which he was summoned to testify before the Anticorruption Prosecutor.

It has only been possible to seize the aforementioned ship registered in Gibraltar and a current account with a positive balance of 247.26 euros to cover civil liability for the alleged crimes investigated, the amount of which in his case amounts to 1.2 million euros.

“Commission within normal”

Medina’s role in the purchase-sale operation is that of a facilitator, as he himself stated during his statement before the prosecutor. He was the person who contacted the Consistory, taking advantage of his status as a public figure and “his friendship with a relative of the mayor of Madrid,” according to the prosecutor’s complaint. He was given the name of Elena Collado, General Coordinator of Budgets and Human Resources of the Government Area of ​​Finance and Personnel of the Madrid City Council.

Elena Collado is summoned to testify on May 9 as a witness. The PSOE has asked the judge to summon her as investigated so that she has “an adequate defense.”

Alberto Luceño is being investigated for being the person in charge of the negotiations with Collado, to whom he presented himself as an “expert in importing products from the Asian market, with factories in China at his disposal, and as the exclusive agent of the Malaysian company EEE, through which the importation was to be carried out’.

According to the investigations, Alberto Luceño received a total of 5,100,000 dollars -4.6 million euros- as commissions, through transfers sent from Malaysia to a personal account.

With this money, the businessman paid for a stay in a hotel in Marbella at a cost of 60,000 euros; three Rolex watches; twelve luxury vehicles and a home in Pozuelo. Regarding the investigated, the judge has already proceeded to block three bank accounts and cards worth almost 130,000 euros, as well as the seizure of the luxury home he purchased.