Spanish Civil Guard arrest 14 in high-speed train fraud investigation

Spanish Civil Guards on Tuesday confirmed they had made 14 arrests in an operation against a supposed fraud of around 80 million euros (around 88 million U.S. dollars) in the construction of the AVE high-speed railway line around La Sagrera station in Barcelona.

The investigation dates back to 2014 after state-owned ADIF's railway infrastructure management detected "substantial differences between the work which had been certified and that which had actually been carried out."

Prosecutors believe the fraud network "emitted successive certificates with costs well above those which had actually been carried out by contractors," and that there was "solid indication" the contractors "were receiving sums of money well above that which actually corresponded to them."

The former director of works at ADIF, the company which administrates the Spanish rail network, and the former AVE director in north-east Spain are among those arrested after charges were presented by Spain's state anti-corruption prosecutor's office, accusing them of inflating the costs of the work.

The case involves civil servants, the directors of companies contracted to carry out building and engineering work, and employees of these companies who had "a relevant role in the execution and certification of the work," on charges of misuse of public funds and falsifying documents.

Investigations are still continuing into whether or not public employees received bribes in order to facilitate the fraud.

The Civil Guard carried out searches of ADIF's offices in Madrid and Barcelona, as well as 15 other addresses, including offices and private homes in the two cities. The offices of construction companies FCC and Acciona, which took part in the work around La Sagrera station, were also searched for documents pointing to financial irregularities. Endit