The critical moment that has occurred since its name was associated by the Unidad Central Operativa (UCO) of the Civil Guard with the alleged corruption plot led by the former organizational secretary of the PSOE, Santos Cerdán, has shifted to the creation of a special internal committee formed by notables from the economic world. This will be about “assessing and strengthening regulatory compliance,” as the company announced. The working group will report to the board of directors and will be led by three independent advisors: María Salgado, María Dolores Dancausa and Javier Sendagorta. Alongside them, three other renowned external figures will act: the former president of the National Securities Market Commission, Sebastián Albella; the president of EY España, Federico Linares, and a former partner of Uria y Menéndez, Luis de Carlos Bertrán.
The president of Acciona, José Manuel Entrecanales, gave details of this approach in a speech addressed to his employees on the occasion of the Christmas holidays. The executive said the commission’s task is “to identify and propose possible improvements to internal standards, policies and procedures.” The entire audit, although Entrecanales also revealed that it is based on the independent report signed by the consulting firm PwC on “the validity and validity of the regulatory compliance system of the Acciona Group”.
The infrastructure and renewable energy giant announced last month the opening of an internal investigation to determine whether those involved in this alleged corruption plot had violated control systems and what their mode of action had been. These investigations were expanded in November as new directives were apparently implicated in what is known as a 2% plot.
Although the first UCO bombshell went off in June, with a 500-page report detailing the year’s worth of 500 million worth of work from the Department of Transport, it only lasted until November 14, when UCO members registered the various headquarters of the construction group. The order was dictated by the magistrate of the Supreme Court, Leopoldo Puente, in search of documents that could shed light on Cerdán affair.
At that time, the president of Acciona had disconnected himself from the group’s shareholders from any link with the conspiracy. Entrecanales took place at the June Council of Navarre Servinabar 2000, a company linked to Santos Cerdán and which appears as an intermediary in the bites, as a simple collaborator in an ecosystem of 30,000 partners and service providers. He also limited the possible years in this Navarra construction company to the solitary performance of the one who was construction director of the Navarra company, Fernando Merino, fired in 2021.
Then came the names of the main managers of Acciona Construcción España, Justo Vicente Pelegrini, and of his close collaborators Tomás Olarte Sanz and Manuel José García Alconchel. The first was responsible for Acciona Construcción for the North zone, while the second was responsible for the South zone. Vicente Pelegrini was fired in June and the other directors were removed from office in November.
Supported by PwC
In the PwC report it is stated that Acciona Construcción has a “crime prevention and anti-corruption model” aligned and certified with the best practices of the national and international market for the prevention of criminal risks (UNE 19601 and UNE-ISO 37001). The system complies, Acciona emphasizes, with criminal legislation to ensure “due control” in the face of the risks of committing crimes within its organization.
The consultant also believes that since before 2015, during the entire period in which the current legal investigations are being prepared, the control model of Acciona Construcción has adapted to the successive legislative changes required at each moment in this case.
Entrecanales lamented to Acciona employees that “unfortunately, there is no absolute control system, which is why he considered it necessary to go further with the creation of this Special Commission”. From the point of view of the president of the listed company, “the only real guarantee to preserve the prestige of our brand is the rigor, honesty and decency of each of us”. His intervention concluded with confidence that “as the judicial investigation progresses, the honesty of our organization, our commitment to justice and the effectiveness of our internal control procedures are demonstrated”.
Another decision, before the seriousness of the evidence examined, regarding the year of public works in exchange for payments to Cerdán and the former Minister of Transport, José Luis Ábalos, and his advisor Koldo García, was to reorganize Acciona Construcción España. Last month, José Damián Sáez took over leadership of the business sector after serving in the previous role as head of construction for Latin America. He replaced Justo Vicente Pelegrini, who was investigated and fired.
This activates the fact that Chinese walls have been erected between the business development processes and the preparation of offers and tenders, and the execution and construction of projects. Once these tasks are separated, the aim is to increase control in the project management and work completion phases.
The business development and tender preparation processes will be supervised and controlled by the Director of Acciona Construcción España and his most direct team. Francesc López, as Director of Operations, will be at the forefront of the execution and construction of the projects, reporting to José Damián Sáez. López was director of the Eastern Zone of Acciona Construcción España.
Until now, Acciona Construcción España had four directorates organized by geographical areas (North, South, East and Center), which are now disappearing. With the new organization chart and the new structure, the new Director of Operations will report to three Production departments, which will be organized by type of projects and customer segments. These three lines will be led by Carlos Tabernero, currently director of Acciona Construcción operations in Latin America; Juan Antonio Adán, previously director of construction in Australia, and Roberto Carballo, who served as director of Negocios Especiales de Construcción in Spain.
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