Serveis Medi Ambient

Serveis Medi Ambient, S.A. (SMATSA) is a private Spanish company founded in 1976 to provide street-cleaning and waste-collection services in the city of Sabadell, in the Vallès Occidental comarca of Catalonia. It belongs to Agora Grup (formerly Vendex), a business group focused on the provision and management of services to public administrations. For decades SMATSA has been the concessionaire responsible for municipal cleaning and refuse collection in Sabadell, and its official website presents it as a reference in the services sector, combining accumulated experience, staff training and technological solutions. The company's public-facing activity includes household waste collection (paper, glass, plastic, organic and residual fractions), bulky-waste pickup for private citizens, and the operation of a mobile recycling point (deixalleria mòbil, known as Mobiblau). SMATSA also runs citizen-awareness and environmental-education campaigns in Sabadell, aimed at promoting reflection on the environmental problem posed by waste. Its website publishes statistics on kilograms of waste collected by section and on the number of bulky-item collection services performed. SMATSA is a private company, not listed on a stock exchange, and forms part of the Agora Grup corporate structure. Its history is closely tied to the municipal service concession of Sabadell: the original concession ran for five-year terms, and a 2012 decision by then-mayor Manuel Bustos (PSC) to extend the contract triggered political controversy; the contract was ultimately awarded for 15 years. SMATSA competed for the contract against Valoriza (Sacyr Vallehermoso group) and FCC, and won on the basis of a technically valued proposal that included an equality plan, side-loading containers and a workforce-training plan. The company has also been drawn into major corruption investigations. In the context of Operación Pokémon and the Cas Mercuri (piece 28), judicial investigations examined alleged favouritism in the awarding of the Sabadell waste contract, valued at around 19 million euros per year, and alleged irregular hiring and payments. In 2018 a judge concluded that the concession award had been the result of a planned arrangement involving municipal officials and the business group's management. SMATSA's manager, Eugenio Díaz, acknowledged a 100,000-euro payment related to a PSC campaign dinner. These proceedings form a significant and controversial part of the company's public record. Today SMATSA continues to operate as the waste and street-cleaning service provider for Sabadell, under the Agora Grup umbrella, and maintains an active communication and environmental-awareness role in the city.

Serveis Medi Ambient, S.A. (SMATSA) was founded in 1976 with the objective of providing street-cleaning and waste-collection services to the city of Sabadell, in the Vallès Occidental comarca of Catalonia. Since its foundation, the company has managed the cleaning and waste service of Sabadell. It forms part of Agora Grup, a group of companies related to the provision and management of services to public administrations; its former parent company was Vendex, which from 2014 became Agora Grup. The municipal service concession was originally structured in five-year terms. In 2012, Manuel Bustos (PSC), then mayor of Sabadell, proposed drafting the contract with a duration of 20 years. This provoked controversy in the City Council, and the contract was ultimately made for 15 years, with votes in favour from the PSC, against from CiU and PP, and abstention from Iniciativa per Catalunya. Three companies presented themselves to the tender: SMATSA, Valoriza (of the Sacyr Vallehermoso group) and FCC. The award by Sabadell City Council to SMATSA was based on a proposal of improvements that was not the cheapest but was the most valued by the technical commission. SMATSA's proposal included an equality plan, side-loading containers and a workforce-training plan. The company also planned a fleet-renewal plan within a couple of years. In September 2012, within the framework of Operación Pokémon, a judicial investigation into alleged bribery in public procurement in Galicia, the prosecution focused on Vendex, SMATSA's former parent company (from 2014 Agora Grup). Consequently, the subsidiary was also investigated, and during a search of its head office, about ten emails were certified as found that supported the fraudulent hiring of workers recommended by the entourage of the city's mayor, Manuel Bustos, and especially by his brother Paco Bustos, of the same party. The investigation into the largest contract of Sabadell City Council was immediately brought to the attention of the judicial authorities of the Cas Mercuri macro-case. On 27 November 2012, the Mossos d'Esquadra entered Sabadell City Hall, uncovering a corruption scheme of the government of Manuel Bustos, known as Cas Mercuri. Among other frauds, piece 28 investigated the alleged favouring of SMATSA, ahead of two competitors, to take charge of the waste-collection contract, valued at around 19 million euros per year. A 530-page police report was drafted detailing the evidence found by the Mossos and the Guardia Civil regarding this alleged crime. In various emails recovered during searches at both the company and the City Hall, it was revealed that SMATSA had the tender specifications up to three months before they were published. According to the piece, Manuel Bustos had a second unofficial telephone from which these contacts were made, and it also relates a secret meeting between Paco Bustos and the group's directors in Madrid in April 2012, a few months before the tender award. Bribery was not ruled out, as investigators found phrases such as that of the president of Vendex. The investigation also documented that between 2009 and 2012 Vendex covered at least a dozen trips for various City Hall officials to attend fairs, as well as private trips to Germany, Seville, Paris or Melilla. It also paid for several dinners at the Migas restaurant, owned by Paco Bustos, and placed family members and friends of City Hall officials within SMATSA. The interlocutory order, made public in mid-September 2018, indicated that SMATSA had taken responsibility for paying the central campaign dinner of the PSC for the 2011 municipal elections, held at the Pista coberta d'atletisme de Catalunya, which cost around 100,000 euros, in exchange for favourable treatment in the public concession tender. According to the investigating judge, Beatriz Faura, between 2009 and 2012, 'senior officials of Sabadell City Council, together with the Vendex business group, constituted a perfectly organised and concerted group within which illicit activities were developed in order to obtain for themselves a profit or economic benefit'. Because of these imputed facts, the magistrate summoned to testify on 6 November 2018 former mayor Manuel Bustos, his brother and former councillor Paco Bustos, councillor Anna Carrasco, councillor Cristian Sánchez, former director of Espai Públic Xavier Izquierdo and the management of SMATSA, giving special relevance to its manager, Eugenio Díaz. Reactions to the appearance were immediate. Eugenio Díaz admitted having paid an amount of 100,000 euros for the dinner, while Anna Carrasco and Cristian Sánchez left their seats and resigned their councillor credentials, in accordance with the party's ethical code, to be replaced by Carlos Corcuera and Mercè Porras. In addition, the company that organised the dinner admitted having charged 30,000 euros in cash without an invoice at the PSC headquarters and that a further 36,000 euros were invoiced as expenses of the Festa de la Rosa of the same year. In November 2018, the judge concluded in a report that the award to the concessionaire was 'the fruit of a planned, organised and directed scheme' by a 'criminal organisation' formed by senior City Hall officials and the management of the business group. She accused Paco Bustos, former councillor for public space and brother of the mayor, and Xavier Izquierdo, then director of that area. She also implicated the mayor himself, arguing that he was aware of the facts, and the president of Grup Vendex, Gervasio Rolando Rodríguez, and the manager of SMATSA, Eugenio Ángel Díaz. She also charged 18 more people for various crimes including influence peddling, prevarication, violation of secrets, bribery, document forgery, electoral fraud and money laundering. Despite these legal proceedings, SMATSA has continued to operate as the waste-collection and street-cleaning service provider for Sabadell under the Agora Grup umbrella, maintaining its public communication and environmental-awareness activities in the city.

• 2018

  September: judicial order links SMATSA to payment of a 100,000-euro PSC campaign dinner. November: former mayor and SMATSA management summoned; judge concludes the concession award was a planned arrangement.

• 2014

  Vendex becomes Agora Grup, the parent group of SMATSA.

• 2012

  Mayor Manuel Bustos proposes a 20-year concession; contract ultimately awarded for 15 years after controversy. SMATSA wins the tender against Valoriza and FCC.

• 2012

  Operación Pokémon investigation focuses on Vendex, SMATSA's former parent company; subsidiary also investigated.

• 2012

  27 November: Mossos d'Esquadra raid Sabadell City Hall, uncovering Cas Mercuri; piece 28 investigates SMATSA's waste contract.

• 1976

  Serveis Medi Ambient, S.A. (SMATSA) founded to provide street-cleaning and waste-collection services in Sabadell.

A long-established local public-service concessionaire and environmental-services operator in Sabadell, positioning itself as a reference in the services sector through experience, staff training and technology.

• Municipal waste collection (paper, glass, plastic, organic, residual)

  Collection of separated waste fractions in Sabadell, with statistics published by section.

• Street-cleaning services

  Street-cleaning service for the city of Sabadell under municipal concession.

• Bulky-waste pickup (trastos vells i voluminosos)

  Free collection of old and bulky items for private citizens; telephone 900 222 234.

• Mobiblau mobile recycling point (deixalleria mòbil)

  Mobile recycling facility whose location can be consulted and downloaded.

• Citizen environmental-awareness campaigns

  Activities aimed at all Sabadell citizens to promote reflection on the environmental problem of waste.

1. 1SMATSA – Serveis Medi Ambient S.A. official websitesmatsa.cat
2. 2Serveis Medi Ambient – Wikidatawikidata.org
3. 3Serveis Medi Ambient – Viquipèdia (Catalan Wikipedia)ca.wikipedia.org