The Arab House is mired in a serious financial situation, without effective operational plans, with structural losses, a non-existent internal control system, continuous consumption of the rest of the cash, widespread irregularities andn public procurement, serious IT security breaches and seriously compromised viability. This is what the Court of Auditors attests in a report approved on December 18, which approves the investigation carried out by EL MUNDO and where the control body concludes that in 63% of the contracts analyzed, “non-compliance with several of the obligations established” in contract law was detected, confirming the “dramatic” situation in which Irene Lozano, due to her management during the years 2022, 2023 and 2024, left this institution.
In its report, the supreme state control body indicates that the consortium led by Sánchez’s biographer “presents negative results that force it to use your remaining cash to finance yourself on a recurring basisa situation which generates uncertainty regarding the viability of the Consortium.
The figures confirm the extent of the problems faced by the Arab House under the leadership of Lozano, who was appointed head of this institution after renouncing her mandate as a deputy in the Madrid Assembly after occupying fifth place on the PSOE list for the Community. For example, in 2023 ordinary management expenses reached 3.15 million euros, compared to income of only 2.09 million. “Ordinary management fees exceed the amount of ordinary management income by 51%“, warns the Court, which directly attributes the losses “to the difference between revenue and ordinary management expenses”. This structural discrepancy explains why the 2023 and 2024 budgets have already been approved with a planned deficit, to be covered with accumulated savings.
Added to this picture of internal disorder, according to the Court of Auditors, irregular functioning of public markets. The audit was carried out on a sample of 27 of the 83 contracts awarded between 2022 and 2023, including 23 minor contracts. Regarding this last point, the aforementioned report concludes that “non-compliance with several of the obligations established” in the Public Sector Contracts Law was detected. More precisely, in 17 files (74% of minor contracts analyzed) the report from the contracting authority has not appeared; In 16 cases (70%), there was no reason why the subject of the contract had not been modified to circumvent the law; In 14 files (61%), approval of three offers was not requested and their exemption was not justified; and in four other contracts (17%), there is no prior approval of the expenditure.
Facade of the headquarters of the Maison Arabe.
Concretely, the Court warns against prohibited practices, as in the case relating to the maintenance of the website, in which “Instruction 1/2019 was not respected when chain together smaller contracts to satisfy recurring needs“.
Furthermore, the document states that Casa Arabe “did not have a defined and formalized internal control system”, that “a risk identification process was not systematized” and that “procedures, documents and records were not standardized”. The deficiencies, he underlines, prevent the evaluation of management and expose the institution to serious incidents.such as the cyberattack of April 2024, which occurred due to “the technological vulnerability of the consortium and the lack of necessary security measures”.
In this way, the Court of Auditors certifies the facts: financial ruin, expenses structurally higher than income, lack of operational planning, widespread irregularities in public procurement, lack of internal control and serious security breaches, in the inspection of which by the executive of Pedro Sánchez the “non-compliance with the management and oversight functions of the ministryor » Foreign Affairs.
About The Author
