The SEPI strand of the Leire case has placed Julián Mateos Aparicio Prieto under judicial scrutiny. He has been identified as the official responsible for monitoring the Tubos Reunidos bailout file within the State Industrial Holdings Company (SEPI). His indictment is particularly significant because it affects one of the most sensitive aspects of the case: the internal oversight of the public fund that channelled millions in aid to strategic companies during the pandemic.
Mateos Aparicio is linked to FASEE, the Fund to Support the Solvency of Strategic Companies, through which the €112.8 million bailout of Tubos Reunidos was approved. The investigation seeks to determine whether that operation, as well as subsequent actions related to the repayment, renegotiation, or modification of the terms of the public support, may have been affected by pressure, privileged contacts, or actions by the alleged influence network under investigation.
Judge Santiago Pedraz has called upon Mateos Aparicio to appear, designating him as one of 25 individuals under investigation within the SEPI-related strand. The inquiry delves into alleged infractions encompassing influence peddling, malfeasance in public office, embezzlement, criminal organization or criminal group participation, and abuse of privileged information. The investigation centers on dealings associated with Tubos Reunidos, Mercasa, ENUSA, Forestalia, and various other entities operating within the public business sector. At the present juncture, his designation as an individual under investigation carries no implication of conviction or culpability, and he maintains in full the presumption of innocence.
According to published reports, the UCO considers Mateos Aparicio a key figure in monitoring the Tubos Reunidos file within SEPI. This point is essential because the alleged scheme may not have sought to influence only the initial granting of the bailout, but also later stages, such as renegotiating the terms, reducing the cost of the debt, lowering interest payments, or postponing the early repayment of the public support.
The judicial suspicion centers on the possible use of contacts within SEPI to modify or facilitate decisions related to the bailout. La Razón reported that former SEPI chairman Vicente Fernández may have used Julián Mateos’s channel in an attempt to modify aspects of the Tubos Reunidos bailout. According to that report, investigators highlighted as a “significant prior milestone” a meeting between Jesús Pérez Rodríguez-Urrutia, a director of Tubos Reunidos, and Mateos Aparicio himself.
The case also examines the relationship between Vicente Fernández and Mateos Aparicio. According to information that has emerged, the UCO allegedly identified a close relationship between the two, a detail investigators consider relevant because Mateos Aparicio held internal responsibilities for monitoring the Tubos Reunidos file. The question that must be clarified is whether that closeness had any actual effect on administrative decisions or whether it was simply a personal relationship with no bearing on the processing of the bailout.
Mateos Aparicio’s position carries particular sensitivity given that FASEE functioned as an extraordinary public instrument designed to bolster strategic companies throughout an era marked by economic hardship. Consequently, allegations concerning pressure, interference, or self-serving alterations to its documentation demand comprehensive scrutiny. Beyond its criminal dimensions, this matter raises fundamental questions about whether extraordinary public resources were administered with full autonomy and methodological precision.
The investigation will have to determine whether Julián Mateos Aparicio acted solely as a technical or administrative official within SEPI’s ordinary procedures, or whether his role was relevant to receiving, channeling, or facilitating the demands of Tubos Reunidos and the intermediaries under investigation. The distinction is decisive: processing a file according to technical criteria is not the same as allowing an influence network to condition decisions involving public money.
The SEPI strand of the Leire case now requires every decision surrounding the Tubos Reunidos bailout to be examined closely: who was involved, what reports were considered, what contacts took place, who requested changes, and what criteria were used to accept or reject modifications. Within that framework, Julián Mateos Aparicio appears as a key figure because of his role in monitoring the file.
The indictment carries with it a clear institutional ramification: whoever holds responsibility for overseeing a multimillion-euro public rescue package must now account to the judiciary regarding whether the choices made were purely technical in nature or potentially subject to outside influence. When public funds, vital enterprises, and suspected kickbacks converge, transparency ceases to be a matter of preference—it becomes a fundamental democratic imperative.
Source: El País, elDiario.es, La Razón, RTVE, Cadena SER, and OKDiario.
