Electric companies, banks and tobacco companies paid Montoro's former office

The "network of influence," allegedly led by Cristóbal Montoro, who pushed through legislative changes—in exchange for "significant payments" to the law firm founded by the former Treasury Secretary—is not limited to favoring gas companies. The investigation has revealed that the "organization" within the Treasury during Mariano Rajoy's government allegedly trafficked in other reforms and regulations affecting other sectors such as banking, renewable energy, gambling, tobacco, public procurement, and temporary employment agencies. Investigators have detected millions in income to the Economic Team (EE) from companies that coincided with legislative reforms in the sector.

A report by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police), to which La Vanguardia has had access, details how several banks paid EE a total of €6.6 million during the bank bailout. Investigators record payments from 17 banks from 2008, the beginning of the crisis, to 2018, the change of government. Only three of these banks hired the firm when it was founded by Montoro himself, during the PSOE government.

The remaining entities began their professional relationship with Equipo Económico beginning in 2011, when Montoro took office as Minister of Finance under Mariano Rajoy. The Mossos d'Esquadra explain in their report that these sectors, including banking, "contracted the services of Equipo Económico/Global Afteli during periods of regulatory changes that directly affected them."

Several electricity companies hired the same firm for a total of 8 million euros, coinciding with the 2012 electricity sector reform.

In fact, between 2008 and 2015, the Economic Team billed the Abengoa group €4.2 million. The Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) point out that a year before the payments began, the energy company added the firm's top executive, Ricardo Martínez Rico, to its board of directors. This 2011 appointment coincided with the 2011 national reform program. "Martínez Rico's appointment to one of the leading companies in the renewable energy sector came at a crucial time for the firm," the Catalan police maintain. Another link is that he is the brother of Montoro's former chief of staff.

Investigators, led by the presiding judge of Tarragona's Investigative Court No. 2, have focused their attention on several decrees issued by the Council of Ministers when the Popular Party (PP) enjoyed its last absolute majority, aimed at overcoming the economic crisis. Some of them, implemented to strengthen the solvency of financial institutions, directly affected banks that were part of Equipo Económico's client portfolio.

The banks paid 6.6 million euros to the Economic Team during the financial rescue.

A derivative of the Gambling Law approved by the government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero also appears. In this case, the law itself is not analyzed, but what draws the attention of researchers is that once Rajoy's government was formed, in December 2011, the awarding of licenses to operate in online gambling in Spain ground to a halt. In January 2013, the news agency Bloomberg published information pointing to alleged irregularities in the granting of licenses to foreign companies. According to that information, the Tax Agency had carried out inspections of non-national companies to force them to pay gambling taxes retroactive to the publication of the law if they wanted a license. According to the Mossos d'Esquadra (Spanish Ministry of Public Security), this may have benefited the Spanish company Codere, a client of Equipo Económico, whose secretary of the board of directors was Rafael Catalá between 2005 and 2012, who later became Minister of Justice and later returned to Codere after the change of government in 2018.

The alleged favorable treatment of large tobacco companies is another of the consequences under scrutiny. Among the measures introduced by Mariano Rajoy's government during the years of cuts was an increase in taxes on tobacco. Investigators have detected payments made by Philip Morris, the world's largest tobacco company, amounting to €2.04 million between 2011 and 2018, years coinciding with the changes in excise taxes on tobacco.

The investigation has revealed that some of these legislative changes were spearheaded in years when payments were made to EE "indicatively in response" to demands that the big tobacco companies made to the then Secretary of State for the Treasury, Miguel Ferré, also a defendant in the case.

"Once again, the investigation into favorable tax reforms has led to the actions of Ferré, as well as those of other heads of the Ministry of Finance," who piloted reforms in the area of excise taxes, such as Diego Martín Abril and Pilar Jurado, both of whom are being investigated along with the rest of the Ministry's leadership.

The Mossos d'Esquadra are targeting payments of up to €8 million from electricity companies and €2 million from tobacco companies.

Major brands were keen to increase the tax burden on low-cost cigarettes, which had increased their market share in 2012. At the end of that year, a double minimum tax was introduced, penalizing these private label brands. Agents are also eyeing EE contracts from municipalities and communities governed by the People's Party (PP).