Overview
- The Tribunal de Cuentas named Mercedes Santamaría as investigating delegate on December 15 to examine whether there is accounting liability.
- The figure at issue totals €21,709,052 detected in the 2023 General State Accounts, which the court called an obviously relevant amount after years of delayed justifications dating back to 2016.
- Prosecutors and the State Legal Service first backed an inquiry but, after AECID’s July submissions, shifted in October to ask for the case to be closed.
- AECID attributes the delays to a complex global network of 53 cooperation offices and limited technical staff and cites a new Subdirectorate for Procedure Control and Risk Management to strengthen oversight.
- AECID says roughly half of the pending files have been reviewed since July, expects to complete the rest within weeks, and denies any loss of public funds, while the court’s accounting investigation remains open.