The businessmen Juan Carlos Cueto and Íñigo Rotaeche told the Audiencia Nacional on 11 September 2026 that they had not been involved in bribe payments connected with mask contracts awarded by Spain’s Ministry of Transport. Before the judge responsible for the case, Ismael Moreno both stressed that they had given their statements voluntarily and with the intention of clarifying their personal responsibility.
In its questioning, the prosecution focused on a fact documented in the decision of the Tribunal Supremo : on 16 March 2020 the company Soluciones de Gestión and the business group Grupo Cueto signed a cooperation and supply agreement. This date is four days before the ministerial order for the procurement of large quantities of protective masks, which was formally 20 March 2020 published. The prosecution considers this chronology relevant to the subsequent award of the contract to Soluciones de Gestión; Cueto and Rotaeche said they had simply pursued a business opportunity in the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic and had found no irregularities.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office initially identified Juan Carlos Cueto as a key figure behind Soluciones de Gestión; he and Rotaeche rejected this attribution. Observers in the courtroom reported that the two statements appeared consistent in substance, which could explain the defence strategy in relation to possible further civil or criminal proceedings.
The background is the findings and convictions published by the Tribunal Supremo in June 2026 in the so-called Causa Especial 20775/2020, which set out the processes surrounding the procurement of masks and the roles of various accused people. Whether Cueto and Rotaeche’s current statements will affect any outstanding lines of investigation or related proceedings will depend on further examination of the files and evidence by the relevant investigative authorities.
This account is based on reports by Spanish media and the publicly available judgment of the Tribunal Supremo dated 22 June 2026; only verifiable facts have been included in the text, and attributions have been clearly identified.
Editor: Phillipe Schmidt-Araguin (Article created with AI assistance).