The Xunta de Galicia is offering a multimillion-euro contract to any law firm that can reclaim public money lost to inflated adult incontinence product prices over 18 years. The legal action targets eight companies already convicted of price-fixing.
Galicia’s regional government is launching a major legal effort to recover public money lost to the so-called “cartel de los pañales.” For nearly two decades, adult incontinence products were sold to the health service at inflated prices. Now, the Xunta is looking for experienced lawyers to take on eight companies already found guilty of illegal price-fixing.
The Servizo Galego de Saúde (Sergas) has opened a public tender for law firms with at least ten years of experience in competition law. The contract, worth more than €6 million before tax, will go to the team that can recover the excess payments made for absorbent briefs between 1996 and 2014. The exact amount to be claimed is still unknown and will depend on a forensic audit to determine how much was overpaid.
"The CNMC confirmed that the cartel operated from December 1996 to January 2014, imposing a €128.8 million fine in 2016."
Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia
This legal action follows a 2016 ruling by the Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNMC), which fined eight manufacturers and importers, the Federación Española de Empresas de Tecnología Sanitaria (Fenin), and two individuals a total of €128 million for colluding to fix prices. The CNMC found that the cartel’s coordinated pricing for adult absorbent products was about double what could have been achieved through open public tenders.
Galicia is not the only region taking action. Fourteen autonomous communities are either preparing or have already filed claims, together seeking around €1.75 billion in damages from the companies involved. The process is complicated by the lack of digitized records and the need for specialized auditors and expert witnesses to reconstruct years of procurement data.
Sergas reports that from 2004 to 2014, at least €140.8 million was spent on products supplied by cartel members. For the earlier period, from 1996 onward, the estimated total rises to €153 million, though the breakdown by company is still unclear. The government says that precise figures will only be available after expert analysis, which is part of the current legal contract.
"Recent reports clarify that the €153 million figure represents the total procurement volume during the cartel period, not the actual damages to be claimed. The final compensation will be calculated as the overpayment above competitive prices, following expert and audit review."
Galician press
To support its case, Sergas asked economists from the Universidade de Santiago (USC) to estimate the financial damage. Their early findings suggest the manipulated prices may have cost Galicia around €50 million, depending on how long and how widely the fraud occurred.
This legal push comes as regional authorities across Spain face growing pressure to recover public money lost to corporate wrongdoing. The scale of the “cartel de los pañales” scandal is comparable to other recent crises in Galicia, such as the cross-border water contamination reported in a previous investigation.
With the deadline for legal bids set for October 8, the Xunta is counting on a combination of experienced lawyers and forensic accountants to force the convicted companies to pay. The case highlights how vulnerable public procurement can be to cartel behavior and the need for stronger oversight. If Galicia succeeds, it could set an example for other regions. The real question is whether any recovered funds will actually improve services for people who rely on the public health system.
