The Provincial Prosecutor’s Office of Santa Cruz de Tenerife has filed a complaint against the two former socialist mayors of Tacoronte Carlos Medina Dorta and Sandra Ramos Perez for withdrawing 14,000 euros from an account of the Municipal Socialist Group between December 18, 2020 and March 9, 2021, when the PSOE already had its expulsion file from the party underway. Both mayors, who currently appear as non-attached and presented a new political party a week ago (We are Tacoronte), will be investigated by an investigating court of San Cristobal de La Laguna to determine if there has been a crime of embezzlement of public funds, which is punishable by imprisonment from 2 to 6 years and disqualification from 6 to 10 years.
The complaint by the Prosecutor’s Office, which began with a preliminary appearance, provides as possible evidence the bank receipts for five withdrawals of funds with signatures of the authorized for amounts of 2,000 euroson December 18, 2020; €3,000on December 31, 2020; €3,000on January 8, 2021; €3,000on January 21, 2021, and €3,000 on March 9, 2021. A total of 14,000 euros that came out of this account of the Socialist Municipal Group at a time of serious internal crisis.
The PSOE notified at the beginning of December 2020, through the entry register of the Tacoronte City Hallthe expulsion from the party of which he was first deputy mayor and mayor of Finance and Works, Carlos Medinaand the then Councilor for Commerce, Contracting and Cemetery, Sandra Ramosfor agreeing with Nueva Canarias (NC) and Sí se puede (SSP) on the formation of a progressive government in June 2019. The leaders of the PSOE announced at the end of 2020 the expulsion of the socialist mayor who, in addition, had to replace at the Mayor’s Office Jose Daniel Diaz (NC) from June 2021.
The expulsion became a firm decision in mid-June 2021, when the Federal Commission of Ethics and Guarantees of the PSOE decided to “dismiss the appeals presented” by those who until then had been his councillors, Carlos Medina and Sandra Maria Ramos, and, therefore, confirmed the definitive expulsion of both. According to the federal statutes of the PSOE, this decision entails “the loss of the public positions dependent on the PSOE held by those sanctioned.” A decision of “final and firm character”. In the Prosecutor’s complaint, the date of August 2, 2021 is cited as the date of the formalization of this expulsion. All bank withdrawals in question occurred after the initial announcement of the expulsion of both and before that expulsion became final.
“We were authorized”
Carlos Medina assured EL DÍA this Thursday that “if we could withdraw money from that account, it was because both the partner and I were authorized to do so. That money would not have been able to leave that account otherwise. They were expenses of the municipal group, for which we were responsible, which were reported to the people who attended the meetings. Sandra Izquierdo did not belong to the group at that time and Tarsis Morales never went. That was so.” Medina maintains that this open judicial front does not “concern” him, he does not give it “greater importance” and puts his resolution “in the hands of the lawyers.” To his former party companions, he replies that “if they consider that it is wrong, then they are within their right to request that it be resolved where appropriate”, but he insists that the reimbursements were “for group expenses”. Medina recalls that “there was an initial commitment that this money should be allocated to the party, but a disciplinary file was opened and, from that moment, the money was managed by us and the different uses had to be negotiated”
On March 16, 2022, the legal representation that appeared before the Prosecutor’s Office to denounce these events, sent two burofaxes to Medina and Ramos, “offering them the possibility of giving an explanation or justifying the withdrawal of funds. That burofax was not attended despite having been received between March 17 and 18, 2022 »details the written complaint, dated August 1, 2022.
The Prosecutor’s Office considers that this action could be typified as a possible crime of embezzlement of public fundspunished in article 432.2 of the current Criminal Code with a prison sentence of two to six years and special disqualification for public office or employment for six to ten years.
The Public Prosecutor concludes that Carlos Medina and Sandra Ramos“with abuse of their status as authorized in the current account of the political formation to which they were attached in their day, and to the detriment of the latter and the public patrimonymade several unauthorized withdrawals that reached a cumulative total of 14,000 euros.
The Municipal Socialist Group of Tacorontecurrently led by Sandra Izquierdo and Tarsis Moralesrequests the return of what they consider “subtracted amount” and the clarification of the withdrawal of these public goods by the two former members of the party.
Regarding the possible relationship between the dissemination of this complaint by the Prosecutor’s Office and the recent presentation of the new party We are TacoronteCarlos Medina, who is its general secretary, affirms that “it was to be imagined that a smear campaign was going to take place” and believes that “this could be related, but we are not worried at all.”
Carlos Medina has been a PSOE candidate for Tacoronte Mayor’s Office in the 2011, 2015 and 2019 elections, and had signed an agreement with NC and SSP that should make him mayor for the first time in June 2021. His party wanted him to agree with Ciudadanos and, in December 2020, opened a file on him of expulsion that blew up the Municipal Socialist Group and put an end to the possibility of its becoming mayor. At the end of June 2021, the current mayor, Jose Daniel Diaz (NC)withdrew all competition from Medina, who since then has been a non-attached mayor in the Tacorontera Corporation.
