The Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Guardia Civil has intensified its investigation into the process of awarding the beach kiosks in Formentera, better known as the megaconcurso under suspicion. On October 3, investigators flew by helicopter to Formentera to interrogate three Sa Unió councilors who were part of the extraordinary Governing Board responsible for awarding the lots, as well as the secretary of the Consell de Formentera, Ángel Custodio Navarro. La Voz de Ibiza has been able to reconstruct the facts and according to this media, once the UCO was in Formentera, instead of carrying out the interrogations in the Consell, they were made in the barracks of the Guardia Civil of Formentera.
UCO investigation: Who were questioned from Sa Unió?
The councilors questioned were Verónica Castelló, Óscar Portas and María Cristina Costa, now former members of the government team but with functions at the time, in the departments of Mobility and Environmental Management; Education, Culture, Heritage and Public Safety; and Social Welfare, respectively. These three councilors played a key role in the approval of the awards, which have been the subject of suspicions due to possible alterations in the evaluation criteria. La Voz de Ibiza has consulted the spokesman Óscar Portas about this situation but has had no response. This case dates back to April 2024, when the extraordinary Governing Board of the Consell de Formentera, composed of the councilors of Sa Unió, awarded seven of the eight lots of beach kiosks amid strong suspicions of irregularities. The session was held on second call due to the absence of Llorenç Córdoba, then president of the Consell, who was recused due to a possible conflict of interest and decided to exclude himself from the process. In that session, the councilors of Sa Unió awarded the lots to companies that benefited from changes in the evaluation criteria, which were introduced with the tenders already open, generating a climate of distrust among the businessmen who participated in the tender.
These changes in criteria were one of the reasons that prompted several contestants to denounce the process.
The role of the Contracting Committee and the secretary
Ángel Custodio Navarro, secretary of the Consell de Formentera, was summoned by the UCO in his capacity as the official responsible for overseeing the legality of the administrative process and ensuring compliance with administrative procedures. The Contracting Board, in which Navarro participated, has been pointed out for having allowed changes in the award criteria and for granting additional correction periods to certain companies, which has generated more suspicions about the legality of the process. The bidders have denounced that the Contracting Board of the Consell de Formentera modified the evaluation criteria after the bids were already open, which affected the transparency and fairness of the tender, since the participants were not aware of these new rules at the time of submitting their proposals . In addition, additional criteria not foreseen in the bidding documents were introduced, such as the evaluation of the number of complementary bids, and there were errors in the sequence of bid opening and evaluation, creating what some consider “cross-contamination” in the process. These practices, together with errors in the sequence of opening envelopes and the inclusion of unannounced criteria, have been the basis of the lawsuits filed by several bidders, who seek the nullity of the process for violation of the principles of transparency and equality.
Complaint by the injured parties: Prevarication and influence peddling
In April of this year, four businessmen who were not awarded the contracts filed a complaint with the Guardia Civil, accusing Ana Fernández Molero, a technician in the area of Environment, and Daisee Aguilera, former councilor of Environment and owner of Whitesand Solutions, the company that signed several of the winning projects, of prevarication and influence peddling. According to the complaint, Fernández Molero modified the evaluation criteria after the bids were already open, favoring companies linked to Aguilera. The complainants also alleged that some companies received preferential treatment, such as the possibility of correcting errors in their proposals, something that was not offered to all bidders, which they considered a violation of the principle of equality. In addition, the aggrieved businessmen underline the personal relationship between Fernández Molero and Aguilera, suggesting that this friendship may have influenced the decisions that resulted in the awarding of the lots.
A process with possible legal consequences
The UCO investigation, which has focused on the interrogation of Sa Unió councilors and the secretary of the Consell, could lead to serious judicial consequences if the accusations of manipulation of the awarding process are confirmed. The scandal over the management of beach services in Formentera continues to grow, and it is expected that the next steps of the UCO will shed more light on what happened and those responsible.
