The European Public Prosecutor's Office corners Torres: it points out 'Commissions' in mask contracts

The European Public Prosecutor's Office confirms "corrupt commissions," "fraudulent receipt of public money," "simulation of service provision contracts," "payments of large sums in favor of companies and individuals," "services that were never carried out," and other "irregularities" in the files of the Canary Islands Health Service (SCS), in relation to the million-dollar mask contracts awarded to Damco Trading Services SA during the pandemic.

This is stated in an order from the National Court, -in January 2025-, on the Damco case being investigated by the European Public Prosecutor's Office, to which elcierredigital.com has had access.

This company was awarded, between 2020 and 2021, ten public contracts for a total amount of 17 million euros, which were directly tendered while the president of the Canary Islands was the current Minister of Territorial Policy, Ángel Víctor Torres. These contracts for medical supplies to Damco, and also to the company under investigation in this case, Tanoja Services SL, carried out by the SCS, are listed on the Public Sector Procurement Portal consulted by our newspaper.

These entities became suppliers for Torres's government of FPP2 masks, KN95, nitrile gloves, rapid tests, and Covid-19 vaccine syringes.

This investigation into the millions awarded to Damco and Tanoja is ongoing in the European Public Prosecutor's Office, and keeps the sole administrator of Damco, the Lebanese businessman, Noel Jammal, under investigation for alleged bribery and embezzlement of public funds.

In this case, the former director of the SCS, Conrado Domínguez, and the former director of Economic Resources of the SCS, Ana María Pérez, are also under investigation regarding their assets and financial accounts. Similarly, Domínguez and Pérez are charged with prevarication and embezzlement of public funds in the RR7 United SL mask case, as revealed by our newspaper.

The European Public Prosecutor's Office began these proceedings as a result of investigations by El Cierre Digital published in March 2022. We uncovered a macro complaint for various irregularities, such as "inflated prices," against 23 public tenders for Covid-19 material awarded to various companies by Torres's regional government. Among these companies reported to the EPPO were Damco and RR7 from the beginning. Today, in the investigation phase with several defendants, and resignations of senior health officials from Torres's government.

As reflected by the EPPO, the UDEF of the National Police began analyzing the contracts reported as the Damco case under investigation proceedings 49/2022 in 2022. The Damco case began when the complaints and investigative reports of El Cierre Digital reached the European prosecutors. Our investigations were also known to the State Attorney General's Office and the Court of Auditors in 2022.

Additionally, as a result of another complaint filed against Damco and the former Canary Islands president Torres before the EPPO in 2023, by the affected businessman, Alex Gómez, -administrator of 7 Academy SL, -also revealed by our newspaper-, the European prosecutors opened proceedings in this case, and conducted further inquiries through the UDEF. Initially, a supposed crime of embezzlement of public funds was pointed out in the Damco case, according to some orders of the National Court.

The DAMCO case "key" to the fall of Minister Torres

The Damco case is considered "key" in relation to the possible "political downfall of the former president of the Canary Islands Government and current minister Ángel Víctor Torres, which would supposedly lead to the political collapse of President Pedro Sánchez's government," according to socialist sources consulted by El Cierre Digital. "There is great concern within the party about the judicial trajectory of the cases in which the contracts made by Torres at the head of the Canary executive during the pandemic are involved," they indicate.

As for Minister Torres, he did not attend the Covid-19 medical supplies investigation commission in the Canary Islands Parliament on April 21, citing "health reasons." Neither did Koldo Garcia Izagiirre, who was reported for his absence before the Police. Nor did the former minister, José Luis Ábalos, -for domestic and medical reasons-, who has not appeared before the Canary Islands parliament on two occasions, in relation to the Koldo case.

Torres, a trusted minister of President Pedro Sánchez's government, is reported in three mask cases: Damco, Trading Services SA, Koldo, -Soluciones y Gestión de Apoyo a Empresas SL-, and RR7 United SL, as our newspaper has been reporting since 2022.

In all these cases, embezzlement of public funds is being investigated due to irregularities in these million-dollar contracts. These were approved with funds from the European FEDER by the SCS while Torres was president and a member of the Canary Islands Covid-19 Expert Committee. Meanwhile, the European Funds advisor of the Canary executive was the vice president, Román Rodríguez, also reported in this case.

The sole administrator of Damco, Noel Jammal, is under investigation in this proceeding, and under judicial analysis of his own electronic devices. Although he has appealed this proceeding on several occasions, he has not achieved the dismissal of this case. The National Court, to date, supports all the EPPO's investigations.

Jammal is also under investigation in the case of an alleged "tax fraud" on the commissions of the medical contracts, along with the president of Unión Deportiva Las Palmas, Miguel Angel Ramírez, the politician Lucas Bravo de Laguna, and the broker Cristian Cerpa, in the Investigating Court Number 5 of Las Palmas.

Irregularities detected by the European Public Prosecutor's Office

Specifically, the European Public Prosecutor's Office has located "irregularities" in some files of the ten tenders costing 17 million awarded to Damco Trading Services SA and Tanoja Services SL. Both were directly and simultaneously awarded the investigated contracts, which were approved by the SCS during Ángel Víctor Torres's government.

As stated in the aforementioned order of the National Court, the EPPO affirms that "there are indications that the company Damco Trading Services, through its sole administrator, Noel Jammal, may have paid commissions to obtain contracts from the Canary Islands Government, (with Torres as president), taking charge of organizing and providing medical supplies with their companies, or through third parties. And that this led to an increase in the price of the products sold."

Likewise, the EPPO states that "there are indications that from the companies Damco Trading Services SA and Tanoja Services SL, they made payments of large sums in favor of companies and individuals with whom service provision contracts were simulated, being that, by such companies and services, no service provision activity related to the sales of medical supplies to the SCS was carried out."

The EPPO reveals that there are indications to consider that "the payment of these amounts (million-dollar contracts), corresponds to corrupt commissions, that the companies Damco and Tanoja, and other individuals, received fraudulently benefiting from public money without carrying out any type of service provision in return."

All this would have led to an overprice of the product sold to the SCS, the European Public Prosecutor's Office keeps.