Spain investigating a worker in its London embassy for misappropriation of over €83,000

THE Audit Court in Spain is investigating claims that a worker in the Spanish embassy in London has used expenses for personal purchases.

The bill amounts to €83,364 from 2013 to 2014 and the receipts for the expenses in question do not go with any listed equipment at the embassy.

The purchased items include furniture, refrigerators, folding bicycles, ice cream makers, telephone lines, baby alarms and an iPad.

Reports suggest that the suspected misappropriation of embassy finances could go back as far as 2006 and that Spain’s ambassador to London, former Justice Minister Federico Trillo-Figueroa, was informed of the case in 2014.

Also being looked into is the direct supervisor of the worker in question who was replaced in 2013 and whose successor, Esther Corral, was the one to contact the ambassador about the translations. 

The expenses fund is provided for protocol and miscellaneous items and the Ms. Corral discovered invoices for fictitious events that she was herself accredited as organising.

The other bills which were found were for television sets, computers and toasters and none of these items could be located at the embassy. The embassy was also listed as having seven paid phone lines when there were only two authorised numbers at the office.