The EU's independent prosecutor is investigating potential fraud in the use of European funds for safety improvements on a Spanish high-speed rail line where 115 people have been killed in accidents this year. The probe widened after a lethal collision last week on the Madrid-Seville line, which has shattered confidence in Spanish trains and forced a minister to quit. In the accident last Wednesday, 69 people died when one high-speed train slammed into the rear of another stationary train.
The European Public Prosecutor's Office is examining possible fraud affecting EU funds allocated to the renovation and upgrading of safety, signalling and communications systems. In January, 46 people died on the same line near Cordoba when train carriages derailed and collided with an oncoming train. A preliminary probe blamed the derailment on a fractured weld between two rails.
This week, Spain's transport minister Óscar Puente, a close ally of Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, resigned over the latest accident. His departure was followed by the resignation of Luis Pedro Marco de la Peña as head of Adif, a state-owned rail company under scrutiny over safety failures. The crash has roiled the campaign for a general election on November 29, in which Sánchez is battling to extend his eight years in power.
Spain has received money from the EU's Recovery and Resilience Fund for railway improvements on 1,400km of track. The European prosecutor is probing Adif, the safety agency AESF, and Spain's Court of Auditors over the use of EU money. Adif said prosecutor staff visited its Madrid office on Friday, adding that no search was carried out and that it had cooperated fully.
The Spanish government oversees AESF and had no comment.
Source: Financial Times Companies · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing