The purchase of medical supplies was chaos in the worst phase of the pandemic and, as open investigations show, it gave rise to alleged fraudsters making a killing. A court is currently cornering Luis Medina and Alberto Luceño for charging millionaire commissions and allegedly “inflating” the prices in the sale of sanitary material to the Madrid City Council. But it is not the only case that the Consistory suffered. According to the documentation that the Administration has sent to the Prosecutor’s Office, the Municipal Police itself has investigated another fraud in the acquisition of 500,000 FPP2 masks through an alleged consultant called Sinclair and Wilde, which was paid 1.25 million euros by bank transfer.
The chief intendant of the Judicial Coordination Unit signed a report on March 5, 2021, where he explained the case. According to the letter, on March 23, 2020, a few days after the confinement was decreed, the City Council “accepted the purchase (price and conditions) of a total of 500,000 EKO brand FFP2 masks through the consulting firm Sinclair and Wilde, resident In New York”. “The objective [era] provide this equipment to all the emergency services and civil protection of the [Consistorio]”, explains the police document, to which EL PAÍS had access. In this way, that same day, by means of a bank transfer through Bankinter, the payment of half of the amount agreed for the total merchandise was made: 1.25 million of the 2.5 million euros that had been agreed .
But problems soon arose. On April 7, according to the report, the legal services “detected irregularities”, for which “an order was given to refund the amount paid to the supplier”. “The reason for said request is the breach of contract by the beneficiary of said transfer,” the City Council wrote in the email sent to Bankinter. In addition, the Consistory “again urged the consulting firm Sinclair and Wilde through emails to send the corresponding certificates of conformity for the FPP2 masks.” But no response was obtained from the consultant: “Neither positively nor negatively.”
The verification of the material arrived also increased suspicions. Thus, on May 4, the Director of Operations of the Municipal Emergency Plan of the City Council denounced in writing that, after analyzing the masks, “there is sufficient evidence to assume that they do not comply with the technical requirements, or with Spanish or European regulations. ”. In addition, attempts were made to contact Philippe Haim Solomon for months without success, the “person who had a contractual relationship” with the Consistory for this operation, according to the Municipal Police, who also incorporated technical reports into their inquiries indicating the “unsuitability of the product” purchased.
“The documentation provided does not correspond to the mandatory certifications required by the EU or the Spanish State, including documents that are indicated for other products that may be cosmetic products,” writes the chief mayor, who lists possible crimes of fraud, against consumers and against industrial property —“because the CE marking has been improperly used to declare in accordance with the requirements established by the EU”, he points out—. The police attribute the responsibility to Solomon, who was never located, according to information sent to Anti-Corruption.
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New York Police Intervention
Attempts to locate Solomon were in vain. According to the documentation included in the summary of the case of Medina and Luceño, the Madrid City Council tried for months to contact the supposed representative of Sinclair and Wilde. On August 4, 2020, for example, an email is sent: “Dear Philippe. We have been waiting for several days, as promised, for the certificate of conformity of the FPP2 masks. To this effect I have sent you several messages that you have not answered. That is why, if we do not receive the appropriate documentation as urgently as possible, we must agree to return the product and the money”, writes Elena Collado, a senior official in the Treasury and Personnel area of the Consistory, who also interacted with the Medina commission agents. and Luceno.
Given the lack of response, the Municipal Police requested help in October 2020 from the New York Metropolitan Police, who went in November to the address where the alleged consultant’s facilities were located. But there, according to the information sent by the US agents, they do not find any office of Sinclair and Wilde. Neither does Solomon. Instead, they run into a certain Henry MF, who claims that he occupies said offices and that, “as a favor to a client”, he allowed Sinclair to use his company’s mailing address.
Henry MF, in turn, added that he had contacted Solomon on occasion, but only by “video call or email”. She never met him in person, she repeated, before stressing that he believed “he lives somewhere in Europe.” “He also reported [de] that he has recently been receiving several letters addressed to Sinclair from different judicial jurisdictions, most recently from the District Court of the United States / Southern District of Florida, ”write the New York Police officers. The Madrid Police report adds that, after requesting more help to find the suspect, as of January 2021, he is not “located in the US and he may be domiciled in England at the moment, without officially confirmed this residence.
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