Judge summons Quirón Prevención executive over alleged bribe in Ayuso partner case

A new suspect in the Ayuso partner case

Judge Antonio Viejo of investigating court number 19 in Madrid has cited Fernando Camino, an executive at Quirón Prevención, as an investigated party in the case against Alberto González Amador, partner of Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso. Camino is due to testify on 3 December, at 10.00 according to EL PAÍS. The summons was set out in a providencia dated 1 October, which elDiario.es reported first and which Europa Press and EL PAÍS obtained. The judge gave the parties five days to submit their allegations. Quirónsalud, the health group that includes Quirón Prevención, declined to comment to EL PAÍS.

The 2020 company purchase

Investigators focus on González Amador's 2020 purchase of Círculo de Belleza SL, a cosmetics and perfumery firm he later renamed Masterman, for 499,836.92 euros. A tax inspection report cited in the articles found the company had no property or employees, with its material assets limited to a laptop described as 'sin valor' and three depilation and body-contouring devices. The seller was Gloria Carrasco, a pharmacist from León who is married to Camino. According to EL PAÍS, the prosecution's thesis is that the purchase may have been the repayment of a favour to the Quirón executive. elDiario.es describes a second line of inquiry in which the price could be a bribe linked to growth in González Amador's billing to Quirón Prevención, while the company itself had billed only about 30,000 euros in the year before the sale. elDiario.es also reports that, according to the investigation, Camino sat on the board of Mape, a Galician company that bought 42 million euros of protective medical equipment from a Catalan firm that had agreed to pay González Amador a 4.5% commission on each sale.

Separate investigation and tax angle

The judge opened a separate investigation through an order that partially upheld an appeal by PSOE and Más Madrid, the popular accusation, against a 31 July decision that denied all the evidence measures they had requested. The new line examines whether using the company Materman SL to conceal income that Maxwell Cremona SL should have declared could constitute other offences. The accusation argues the arrangement may amount to 'disloyal administration', as the State Attorney has suggested, or to corruption in business, or both, given the almost 500,000 euros paid. PSOE and Más Madrid also asked to add a tax offence after a Tax Agency (AEAT) report said the company 'would lack the necessary means' to provide the consulting services it billed to Quirón Prevención. They further asked that the assets of González Amador and his companies, Maxwell and Masterman, be analysed from 2016, when he began providing services to Quirón Prevención.

Next steps

Camino's testimony is set for 3 December, and the parties have five days from the providencia to present allegations on the summons. The judge also asked the parties to respond within five days to a request to suspend administrative proceedings the Tax Agency opened against Camino, Quirón Prevención and Helios Healthcare Spain, now that the criminal route has opened. The separate investigation into Materman SL continues under the judge's order. The allegations remain suspicions under investigation, and the articles report no charges has been decided.