The Montoro case shakes the current Tax Agency with two dismissals

MadridThe Montoro case is already shaking the current Tax Agency with the dismissal of two active officials until this Friday. First Vice President and Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero (PSOE), has dismissed the Deputy Director General of Local Taxes, Óscar del Amo Galán, as well as the current Director of Economic and Financial Affairs of the Lottery, Rogelio Menéndez, according to ministerial sources confirmed to ARA.

Both are accused in the Montoro case, which investigates an alleged "network of influence" led by former minister Cristóbal Montoro. According to the Tarragona court investigating the case, the former minister and other former senior officials at the ministry modified tax laws to favor industrial gas and energy companies. These legal changes allegedly allowed the companies to save on taxes in exchange for making payments to the private consulting firm Equipo Económico, founded by Montoro himself in 2006, before joining the Spanish government, and through which he received advice.

The first known dismissal was that of Óscar del Almo. In fact, Sumar, the minority partner in the central executive, had already requested his removal. At a time when the Spanish government, and particularly the PSOE, remains under scrutiny over the Santos Cerdán case, Montero herself did not hesitate to clarify that del Almo "is not a position appointed by the Council of Ministers." "He is not a senior official in the ministry. [...] He occupies the rank of the civil service scale he is eligible for," she reiterated in statements to the press from Santander (Cantabria).

In fact, in response to accusations from those who point to the Montoro case as a strategy to cover up the Supreme Court investigation affecting what until very recently was the number three in the PSOE, Montero did not hesitate to deny the main point: "[The Montoro case] is not a ruling that has initiated the jousting that has begun with the Socialist Party. It is an interlocution between the country's judges [...] who investigate at the pace they deem appropriate and publish their resolutions when they see fit," said the first vice president.

Del Amo already held the position of deputy director general of Local Taxes during Rajoy's first government (2011-2016) when Cristóbal Montoro was in charge of the Treasury. The judge's ruling places him at the center of one of the regulatory changes that benefited companies: the modification of the economic activity tax (IAE), a tax managed by city councils that taxes any economic activity, whether of an individual or legal entity.

As for Rogelio Menéndez, he was an advisor to the cabinet of the Ministry of Finance between 2013 and 2015. He later joined the public entity Lotería y Apuestas del Estado, which reports to the Ministry of Finance. He is being investigated for having participated in meetings between the Ministry of Finance and the benefiting gas companies. Furthermore, he is the brother of another of the defendants in the case, Santiago Menéndez, director general of the Tax Agency between 2013 and 2018; therefore, also during Mariano Rajoy's government.

Feijóo breaks the silence

Meanwhile, 48 hours after the lifting of the secrecy of the investigation, Alberto Núñez Feijóo broke his silence. Besieged by the PSOE's offensive, which accused him of not making a move after the indictment of the former Minister of Finance, this Friday the leader of the PP reacted with a message on the social network X: "What needs to be investigated, let it be investigated." Feijóo assures that this is his "criteria" on corruption regardless of who it affects and, in a dart to the socialists for the alleged plots that affect them, adds: "I am not going to talk about persecution of judges or pseudo-media."

But the reality is that the reaction has taken two days and, until now, the popular ones had limited themselves to disassociating the party from the alleged maneuvers of Montoro and his team to promote legislative changes that benefit some companies. TheThe former head of the Treasury resigned from the party yesterday, Thursday., which had merely opened an "information procedure" related to the case. The conservatives, in fact, focused on emphasizing that Montoro left the Spanish government "more than seven years ago" and that he "has no working ties with Feijóo's team or the current PP."

With Feijóo's first words on the table, the Socialists didn't hesitate to use them to counterattack, especially after the barrage of accusations they've received from the Popular Party (PP) over the Cerdán case. "That's the hypocrisy we have in this country. Of systemic corruption, [in the PP] they don't know the people accused," Montero complained about Feijóo's statements. "We must demand explanations," she reiterated.

The PP and its relationship with the consulting firm

According to information revealed byThe IndependentFeijóo turned to members of former minister Montoro's team for advice two years ago. Among the most prominent names is one of those indicted by Tarragona's investigating court number 2, former Secretary of State for Finance Miguel Ferré, who held a "decisive position" in the plot, according to the judge who charged him. Furthermore, in the last renewal of the Popular Party leadership, the party leader appointed Alberto Nadal as Deputy Secretary of Economy. Nadal was Secretary of State for Budgets at the end of Montoro's term, although for now he is not among those indicted by the Tarragona judge.

Feijóo's statement comes on the same day that new information about the case has emerged, suggesting that Montoro would have received confidential information from the Tax Agency regarding politicians, celebrities, and journalists. He also alleged that payments to his Economic Team office—through which companies allegedly attempted to influence the Ministry of Finance—arrived from electricity and renewable energy companies, in addition to the gas companies already mentioned by the judge.