The head of the Court of Instruction number 4 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Maria de los Angeles Lorenzo-Cáceres Farizoinvestigates two senior officials of the Government of the Canary Islands within the framework of the so-called Mediator Case, on possible payments to politicians to favor some businessmen from the Canaries and the Peninsula in their business activities. The new defendants are Álvaro de la Bárcena Argany, Deputy Minister of the Primary Sector, and Estefanía González Núñez, Head of Service in said department. Both are summoned to testify as alleged perpetrators of a crime of prevarication and another of revealing secrets.
The involvement of Álvaro de la Bárcena and Estefanía González is allegedly related to their participation in reducing the severity of a disciplinary file against the employer alberto montesdeoca García, owner of the Biogranja Montesdeoca, located in the municipality of Adeje. It should be remembered that said farmer received a grant of funds from the European Union of more than 74,000 euros. However, the aforementioned financial aid was not adequately justified, for which reason the aforementioned report was opened to return the money.
In fact, andhe Special Delegate Prosecutor against Corruption and Organized Crime of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Jaime Serrano-Jover González, is in favor of sending the aforementioned file, number 4/2021, which was processed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries of the Autonomous Executive, to the General Intervention of the State Administration.
The representative of the Public Ministry recalls in the report that sent to the investigating judge that the indications of possible irregularities, which may become crimesalready appear in writings prepared by investigators of the National Police, as well as the Prosecutor’s Office itself.
According to the aforementioned document, the agents of the Computer Crime Team detected transcribed conversations and communications, which may have evidence of crime, and in which Álvaro de la Bárcena, Estefanía González and Estefanía González are allegedly involved. Taishet Sourcesat that time general director of Livestock of the Canary Islands Government and nephew of the former socialist deputy Juan Bernardo Fuentes Curbelowho came to be known as Tito Berni as a result of the Mediator Case and who preceded Taishet in the aforementioned position of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.
The alleged irregularities are linked to two files on the Montesdeoca farm
Based on these communications, there are indications that Taishet, removed from said position in June 2022, allegedly showed interest in lowering the seriousness of the case against Alberto Montesdeoca so that he returned the European funds and to prescribe a procedure sanctioning.
And, as requested by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, the judicial authority agrees to send both files related to the Biogranja Montesdeoca to the General State Intervention.
The person who allegedly mediated this entire plot was Marco Antonio Navarro Tacorontenative of gran canarito and settled in Tenerife, who in his role as mediator gives his name to this alleged case of corruption.
Next Thursday, June 29, Álvaro de la Bárcena and Estefanía González Núñez are scheduled to appear to give a statement before the examining magistrate at 11:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. at the Palace of Justice in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
For that same day, Taishet Fuentes and Juan Bernardo Fuentes have also been summoned to give a statement curbelo. This will be the second time that the head of the Investigating Court number 4 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife takes a statement from them, after both were arrested in February of this year. During their appearance in court, they are also expected to undergo a calligraphic test.
The prosecutor delegated against Corruption opposes in a report to the return of some seized effects to the retired Division General of the Civil Guard Francisco Espinosa Navas, arrested on February 14 for his alleged participation in favor of businessmen who wanted to do business in the Archipelago and the only one who came to be in provisional prison after going to court. Espinosa Nava spent two and a half months in the Tenerife II prison. On May 4, he was released with precautionary measures.
For the representative of the Public Ministry, the dumping and analysis of the devices was agreed by the judge and, therefore, said procedure must be carried out. The prosecutor clarifies that the time that elapses from the issuance of the measure until it is executed is not a reason for the interest in the aforementioned test practice to disappear.
In the opinion of Jaime Serrano-Jover, the current situation of intervention of the devices does not create defenselessness for the aforementioned ex-command of the Armed Institute. The prosecutor emphasizes that the time elapsed since such effects were seized has not been excessive, especially if one takes into account the magnitude of the investigation of the Corredor Case.
Marco Antonio Navarro Tacoronte’s lawyer asked that the consent that the mediator once granted to the judge to analyze the content of his mobile phone be revoked and that it has been key to revealing how the supposed organized group acted, as well as the parties and the consumption of cocaine and prostitution carried out by some of those involved. The representative of the Public Ministry says that Navarro granted permission several times for such a study of his terminal to be carried out and granted it in the presence of his then defense attorney.
