The leadership was made up of a PSOE deputy, a general and a businessman who admitted to his clients that they were bribing
MADRID, 22 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The ‘Mediator’ plot, which would be headed by the now former socialist deputy Juan Bernardo Fuentes, the General of the Civil Guard Francisco Espinosa Navas and the Canarian businessman Antonio Navarro Tacoronte, asked for an “economic toll” of 5,000 euros from the businessmen who that he captured under the promise of “obtaining privileges” in terms of public contracting, met with them in the Congress of Deputies and at the headquarters of the Civil Guard in Madrid to appear “serious” and ended up in “big parties” in clubs and hotels with an average cost of about 3,000 euros, according to the summary of the case, to which Europa Press has had access.
In a report, the Prosecutor’s Office speaks of “the existence of a plot made up of authorities, senior public officials and other intermediary persons of those who offered different businessmen the possibility of obtaining privileges in the field of public procurement or other manifestations or derived benefits of the public sector in exchange for the payment of gifts, gratuities, deliveries of money or other gifts”.
The alleged network was “perfectly defined and coordinated,” says the prosecutor, who places Juan Bernardo Fuentes Curbelo, then socialist deputy, at its “upper vertex”; his nephew Taishet Fuentes, who was director general of Livestock, and Francisco Espinosa Navas, division general of the Civil Guard.
Along with them, the National Police, in another report, places the Canarian businessman Marco Antonio Navarro Tacoronte, who would perform functions of “mediator” between the alleged leaders and the captured businessmen.
The reports explain that “the first step” that the interested businessmen had to take was to pay 5,000 euros, as an “economic toll”, to the Vega Tetir Sports Association, which was chaired by the former Socialist deputy.
“REVOLUTIONARY TAX” DISGUISED AS MONEY “FOR CHILDREN”
According to the statement of the “mediator”, Bernardo Fuentes himself asked them to pay that amount to the aforementioned Association in a “subtle and affectionate” way, assuring that it was for “the children”.
However, the “mediator” assures that it was a kind of “revolutionary tax.” “If it is not paid, there is no access to a contract or the subsidy to the farms is taken away,” he specified in his statement, alleging that everything he said was reflected in the mobile phones that he gave to the police. “Curbelo put the account number every 30 minutes until he made a mistake and put one from Openbank,” he exclaimed before the judge.
In addition, he reported that the payment of 5,000 euros had been made by 6 companies in the Canary Islands, among which he cited a cheese factory, a cow farm, a cattle farm, a drone company and a solar panel company: “They all paid to do work for the Ministry of Livestock and Agriculture”.
The “mediator” also clarifies that the Madrid businessmen were charged 18,000 euros through the Tetir agency, owned by the son of Bernardo Fuentes, for processing the Canarian tax regime, which made it easier for them to award subsidies and aid because companies that prevail They are within the Canarian tax regime. And later, to achieve those contracts, he assures that the deputy and he himself, charged “a commission in cash”, in addition to the 5,000 euros of initial toll.
PARTIES WITH COCAINE, PROSTITUTES AND VIAGRA AT 3,500 EUROS A NIGHT
Navarro Tacoronte himself testified in court on February 22, 2022 that he had business with the former deputy every 15 days in Madrid. They stayed at the Hotel Victoria 4. They went on a “visit” to the Congress with businessmen, where they took photos, then had lunch and continued partying the rest of the day, spending an average of between 3,000 and 3,500 euros “per night” which they paid businessmen interested in investing in the Canary Islands. “At these parties, the consumption of alcohol, cocaine, the hiring of prostitutes and the consumption of Viagra were protagonists,” according to what he recounts in the judicial statement.
The Prosecutor’s Office report also details that the General of the Civil Guard Espinosa Navas was in charge of “receiving” the captured businessmen and, where appropriate, taking them to “units in the General Command of the Civil Guard based in Guzmán El Bueno street, in Madrid, which was essential to be able to give an appearance of seriousness and power to the criminal plot and generate trust”.
The plot focused on “businessmen with business expectations in the Special Zone of the Canary Islands, characterized by its special tax benefits,” according to the Public Ministry.
“We are not committing any crime but we are bribing,” Navarro Tacoronte even said to one of the “peninsular businessmen” they would have captured, Antonio Bautista Prado, in a conversation held on November 12, 2022.
THE COMPLAINANT, ONE OF THE ALLEGED LEADERS
The investigation began after the complaint filed, in December 2021, by the until a few days ago director of Sports of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Ángel Luis Pérez Peña, who warned of fraudulent charges on his bank card for an amount of 2,575 euros.
Pérez Peña, who resigned from his position on January 31 citing personal reasons, then reported those charges on his card. From there, the Police investigated them and determined that they had been carried out by Navarro Tacoronte, who was the holder of the prepaid cards, which led to his arrest in January 2022.
Navarro Tacoronte assured in court that Pérez Peñas was aware of the charges that he had denounced, since he had his “acquiescence, in addition to being the real and final beneficiary of the denounced purchases.” And to prove it, he said he had WhatsApp conversations between the two and handed over two mobile phones, which are the “origin of the plot,” says the police report.
Also in his statement, the alleged manager stated that he had strong evidence regarding “numerous crimes” related to corruption that “different political officials in the Canary Islands” would have committed. “In short, they would have organized themselves in a group reserved for illicitly enriching themselves,” says the Police.
With the overturning of these devices, the Police compiled a series of evidences about the existence of a criminal organization supposedly led by the deputy, who, “taking advantage of the ancestry that his position gave him, would cause the perception of gifts and perks of an economic sign by various businessmen and ranchers”.
ENVELOPE DELIVERIES
According to the ‘Corruption Report’ of the Provincial Police Station of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, the former deputy, his nephew, the general and Navarro Tacoronte “would use front men and mules to receive bank transfers of improper origin, as well as the falsification of invoices that justify these”.
The Police points out that the investigation carried out proves “without any doubt” that the criminal organization, based in the Canary Islands, would be dedicated to the commission of crimes related to corruption, extortion or documentary falsification.
And he emphasizes that the meetings of the deputy -whom he catalogs with the aliases ‘Tito’, ‘Tito Berni’ or ‘Juambe’– and the presumed mediator with the businessmen “culminated with large parties in clubs and at the Hotel Victoria 4”, where they both stayed.
In addition, he realizes that there were lunches and dinners with some of the aforementioned personalities, “according to availability” and “paid for by the businessmen.” In these meetings, the businessmen presented their growth plans and public figures told them what they could do for them.
That was when “the delivery of envelopes containing perks in cash” was made, money that they gave “to the intermediary and he to the personality.”
