A Spanish firefighting company convicted in 2025 by Spain’s National Court for its leading role in a major international antitrust ring known as the “Fire Cartel” (Cartel del Fuego), currently holds an active multimillion-euro contract with the Cyprus Department of Forests.
The €25 million contract was awarded in the summer of 2024 to Titan Firefighting Company SL (formerly known as Avialsa) for the lease of four firefighting aircraft. The contract runs until 2026, with an option for renewal through 2028.
A critical dimension of the case involves a specific Department of Forests official. According to tender documents examined by Phileleftheros, this official was called upon in late spring 2024 to provide expert testimony recommending the approval of this exact contract. Today, that same official is the primary suspect in an overlapping domestic corruption scandal concerning aerial firefighting assets.
The Cyprus firefighting procurement scandal
The official under scrutiny is currently the subject of a criminal investigation by the police headquarters’ Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The inquiry focuses on contracts exceeding €32 million linked to a Cypriot corporate entity in which the official’s mother held shares.
Case files seen by Phileleftheros state that Titan Firefighting Company SL was represented in Cyprus by this local company, with the official’s mother serving as a shareholder from 2012 until 2024.
During a raid on the Cypriot company’s headquarters, CID investigators unexpectedly encountered the Department of Forests official on-site. In an apparent attempt to evade discovery, the official jumped from a balcony of the building, suffering a broken leg.
外界 investigators argued during court proceedings that aircraft leasing tenders drafted under the official’s unit systematically favored and concluded with awards to Titan.
Pushing through inflated bids
Regarding the active €25 million contract, the suspect official was brought in to advise the tender committee. Although Titan’s bid was flagged as excessively high, the official defended the pricing via video conference:
- 38% Above Estimate: When questioned why the first part of Titan’s bid was 38% higher than the Forestry Department’s internal cost estimation, the official countered that the markup was justified. He argued that the contract covered a six-month lease and required personnel and aircraft to be mobilized all the way from Australia, whereas in previous years they flew in from Spain.
- 27% Above Estimate: Questioned on the second portion of the tender, which exceeded internal estimates by 27%, the official attributed the variance to the strategic five-month lease window. He claimed this was deliberately designed to attract bidders from the Southern Hemisphere, where it is winter during the peak of the Cypriot summer fire season.
- European Price Matching: When asked by the Tender Board if the rates were competitive with other European nations, he claimed that the prices were generally aligned with broader European standards.
Following these assurances, the Tender Board officially awarded the contract to Titan. The CID later scrutinized this specific procurement process, discovering that Titan had listed the Cypriot company owned by the official’s mother as its primary local point of contact. The contract remains active and is not listed on the Republic’s Treasury registry of terminated public contracts.
Spain’s 150 million euro “Fire Cartel”
The term Cartel del Fuego refers to a sweeping international aviation procurement ring. Aircraft sales and leasing firms formed a cartel to manipulate public officials, gaining direct access to Spain’s Ministry of the Interior to rig bids. The network colluded to split up public contracts for Air Tractor aircraft (including AT-502, AT-802, and amphibious models), effectively eliminating competition and artificially driving up prices.
In February 2025, Spain’s National Court (Audiencia Nacional) sentenced 12 defendants to prison terms ranging from six months to two years and three months for rigging public contracts in the aerial firefighting sector between 2001 and 2018.
In its 2025 ruling, the court imposed a landmark nine-month ban preventing several implicated companies from bidding on public contracts. Among those banned was Avialsa T35—now operating as Titan Firefighting Company S.L.—the very firm serving the Cyprus government.
The cartel was exposed after an executive at Avialsa (now Titan) turned whistleblower, reporting the illegal actions of the corporate ring to authorities. Initial estimates placed the total financial damage to the Spanish state over a 15-year period at more than €150 million.
Minister: “No complaints are left in the drawer”
The domestic corruption probe into the aerial assets was launched following an internal investigation by the Ministry of Agriculture covering Forestry Department contracts signed between 2017 and 2024. Minister Maria Panayiotou ordered an administrative inquiry in July 2024 after receiving a formal complaint regarding suspicious practices in a specific tender. The inquiry concluded in December 2024, and its findings were forwarded to the Attorney General.
When contacted by Phileleftheros to comment on the links between the Cyprus procurement case and Spain’s Cartel del Fuego, Minister Panayiotou noted that given that the case is still ongoing, it would not be correct to comment on the substance of the matter. However, she emphasized as a core principle that all complaints submitted to her across a range of issues are never, under any circumstances, left in a drawer.
She added that when complaints are filed, the ministry has an obligation to evaluate and investigate them, and where relevant evidence emerges, to forward it to the competent authorities for action. This is precisely what was done in this instance, stating that responding to every complaint is not a choice, but a duty and an institutional obligation. She concluded that it forms a core pillar of the responsible governance they practice and the transparency they owe to citizens.
