The Spanish gossip magazines in which he frequently appears are saying euphemistically that "he is not in his best moment". But 42-year-old Luis Medina, the son of former model Naty Abascal and the late Duke of Feria, does not stop reiterating that "he is very calm" in the face of the accusations of alleged fraud in commissions he received from the Madrid city council in the sale of a consignment of defective masks during the first wave of the Covid pandemic. Medina was an intermediary in the mask deal.
His peace of mind may, however, be due to his conifidence that he will not be affected financially. In fact, the judge who has opened a case against him says that Medina has only 247 euros in the bank and has asked for other possible civil liabilities that could be seized to make him "pay" for his responsibilities in the case.
But not only that. Medina, who defines himself as a businessman who has dealings with Germany where he says that "these kinds of commissions are normal", has also dumped the savings bonds he bought with the sum of over one million euros that he earned in commissions on the mask deal. Thus, Madrid's Court 47 has asked the prosecutors to propose new economic measures so that his assets can be confiscated. It should be remembered that, according to the anti-corruption prosecutor's complaint, Luis Medina Abascal invested his million dollars in two things: a yacht that he put in the name of a Gibraltar company and named "Feria" and two savings bonds. According to the judge, the two bonds are no longer in his possession.
Flight from Spain
However, Medina's strategy for avoiding justice and his responsibilities goes further. He has, in fact, left Spain for the Portuguese island of Tavira, on the Algarve. Medina spoke before leaving with reporters waiting outside his home. Maintaining his pose, he reiterated that he was "very calm" and added: "I have nothing planned because I have not done anything wrong and I have confidence in justice. I am waiting for the case to be closed, I have no choice but to wait." In addition, he now denies that the other figure who received a commission in the case, Alberto Luceño, is his friend or partner.
Indeed, the issue has several protagonists. There is also Carlos Martínez Almeida, a cousin of Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida, who is alleged to be the point of connection between Medina and the municipal government. Medina himself has admitted that he spoke to a relative of the mayor and that he received 8% of the sale as a commission, although it is less than the million that the prosecutor claims he pocketed - the rest supposedly went to Luceño.
The commissions from the mask deal totalled six million euros, most of which is alleged to have gone to the aforementioned businessman Alberto Luceño. But his supposed partner, the son of the socialite and the aristocrat, could find certain of his physical assets affected. Among them, a house in Pozuelo de Alarcón (Madrid) valued at over a million euros, plus three parking spaces and a storage space. He also has three Rolex, two gold and one steel, valued at 26,000, 9,900 and 6,550 euros, respectively.