The former deputy of the PSOE Juan Bernardo Fuentes Curbeloalias Tito Berni; his nephew and former director of Livestock at Canary Islands, Taishet Fuentes Gutierrez; the current Deputy Minister of the Primary Sector of the Canary Islands Government, Álvaro de la Bárcena, and the head of services of this department, Estefanía González declare this week before the judge of the so-called mediator casewhich investigates the alleged plot that was dedicated to collecting bribes in exchange for political favors.
Total, There will be eight investigated persons who will have to appear before the Investigating Court Number 4 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. It will be the second time that Fuentes curbelo and his nephew testify before the judge; on this occasion, they are scheduled for Thursday at 9:00 and 9:30. According to the order, to which Europa Press has had access, it is expected that that same day a calligraphic expert will be carried out on the former socialist leader.
For that same Thursday, the two charges of the Government of the Canary Islands who appear as investigated in the case for the alleged commission of a crime of revealing secrets and prevarication. The Deputy Minister of the Primary Sector and the head of services of said department will have to go to the court at 11:00 and 11:30 respectively. Two witnesses will also appear that day.
The transfers of ‘The Drones’
In the round of interrogations it is foreseen that the day before, on Wednesday, two other investigated persons appear: Ruben Fuentes and Celedonio Castro. According to the investigations, the former would have received money in an account that would have been provided by Navarro Tacoronte; the second, is a former councilor of Canarian Coalition and in the investigation Antonio Navarro Tacoronte appears as a “taxi driver” — the mediator–.
It also appears on the agenda that that same Wednesday Judge María de los Ángeles Lorenzo-Cáceres will question -also as investigated- Marta Suárez and Aranxa Suárez, between 10:00 and 10:30. According to the documentation to which this news agency has had access, both are daughters of the investigated businessman José Suárez Esteve, known in the plot as ‘El Drones’.
Agents of the Internal Affairs Service of the Civil Guard pointed out in one of their reports that, in January 2021, Marta received a WhatsApp message from mediator with the number of a bank account that his father also received.
The daughter of The Drones responded to that message with a photograph of a computer screen showing a “same-day transfer receipt” to an account that, according to the Tax Agency database, would be owned by a married couple now being investigated in the plot.
It should be remembered that Before the Investigating Court Number 4 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, José Suárez Esteve himself had already declared himself under investigation. The businessman assured that Navarro Tacoronte defrauded him of 46,000 euros with the promise of setting up a drone sales company in the Canary Islands.
Suarez said that he mediator He offered to set up a company in a free zone through a company that was dedicated to it, and assured him that this would reduce the payment of taxes and he could import the drones. According to him, Navarro Tacoronte explained to him that an initial investment of 100,000 euros would have to be made as capital of the company.
The businessman admitted before the judge that he made several transfers up to 46,000 euros to various accounts, some of which the “mediator” was not the owner of. He later realized that “it was a falsehood.”
The investigation of the ‘Mediator case’
This week’s statements are the latest movement of the mediator case, where the alleged plot of a criminal organization “formed mainly by three pillars and a clear link between all those investigated” is investigated, which would have “a perfectly structured and defined hierarchy, with a clear division of functions and dedicated to the commission of crimes related to corruption such as bribery and influence peddling”.
The interrogations will take place shortly after the judge agreed to extend the patrimonial investigation to the wife of Taishet Fuentes Gutiérrez, considering that “regarding Yeneba Calero’s account, there is a huge number of bizum operations with her husband” which, in her opinion , “must be analyzed to “verify” if it was able to “receive payments of illegal origin.”
According to the head of the court in the order in which he ordered this procedure, “there are many conversations in which payments to Taishet are discussed” or in which he “demands the payments or thanks those received.” Thus, he ordered requests for information to be sent to various banking entities regarding six accounts that are under suspicion.
