'Mediator Case': a filed complaint that has ended in a scandal in Congress

• 'Meditor Case' The PSOE examines its deputies but for now exempts them from guilt: "It is one thing to go to a dinner and another to be corrupted"

• Investigation Five PSOE deputies were at a second dinner in Ramses with the corrupt plot

What was the disjointed plot in the 'Mediator case'?

It was a network installed in the Canary Islands that, according to the researchers, included “political officials, Administration officials.

They contacted businessmen whom they convinced that in exchange for money or gifts they would use "their influences" to obtain the benefit they were seeking.

Between the two blocks appeared intermediaries who facilitated contacts and were in charge of hiding the trail of illicit money.

The Prosecutor's Office places "at the apex of the network" the deputy of the PSOE

,

;

the General Director of Livestock of the Canary Islands

, nephew of the deputy;

and

, Division General of the Civil Guard when the events occurred.

"The relevance of their respective public responsibilities generated a relationship of trust and expectations" among the businessmen, the researchers explain.

How was the corruption plot uncovered?

The origin was in a complaint that had nothing to do with the dismantled network, but that affected the mediator

.

It was filed by the former director of Sports of the Cabildo de Tenerife,

, for alleged unauthorized spending on his cards of 2,750 euros.

When the mediator testified before the Police, he said that the payments were consented to and that he believed that the complainant was only trying to hide from his wife.

The complaint was closed, but access to the mediator's phones, to which he himself consented, uncovered the corruption plot.

What political connections did the organized network have?

The main figure was that of deputy Fuentes Curbelo.

The political scope of the scandal is yet to be determined which other Socialist deputies were related to the plot.

The key would be in two dinners at the

in Madrid attended by several deputies.

In the intercepted conversations, the key intermediary, Marcos Antonio Navarro Tacoronte, boasts that he can make some PSOE senators - "my senators" - discuss the matter that interests him in plenary, thus convincing a businesswoman that they are people with power.

In another wiretap he is heard stating that he advises two ministries that turn to him when something "delicate" has to be done.

"My real role is to advise two ministers, two," he says.

To know more

Editorial.

The environment of the 'Meditor case' in which PSOE deputies moved

The environment of the 'Meditor case' in which PSOE deputies moved

Opinion.

Of commissions, generals, caciques and deputies

• Drafting: ELISA DE LA NUEZ

Of commissions, generals, caciques and deputies

What employers paid?

On the one hand, there were the cattle and cheese businessmen of the Canary Islands who are waiting to obtain a subsidy or license or who were immersed in some disciplinary process that they wanted to be closed.

On the other hand, the plot contacted businessmen from the peninsula who aspired to obtain commercial agreements and subsidies, as well as to be part of the ZEC, the

, with a favorable tax regime.

Payments by half a dozen businessmen have been detected.

What were the payments?

There were several ways to curry favor with the plot.

The first step was always a transfer of 5,000 euros to the

, chaired by the socialist deputy.

Those involved also requested the delivery of cards in which funds had been preloaded that the bearer could dispose of.

In addition, businessmen had to bear the costs of meetings with politicians and mediators.

They included dinners, hotels, flights and prostitutes.

According to the information reflected in the summary of the case, the average cost of an evening with the plot was 3,000 or 3,500 euros.

Before the party, the businessmen were paraded through the Parliament, through the General Directorate of Livestock of the Canary Islands or through the General Command of the Civil Guard.

This step "was essential to be able to give an appearance of seriousness and power to the criminal plot and to generate confidence in businessmen."

Since when was the plot running and what crimes would it have committed?

The alleged criminal activities have not lasted long.

According to the investigators, the detainees began to act in the last months of 2020 and stopped doing so in the first half of 2021. The decline began when the businessmen verified that the problems that were supposed to be solved with so much expense were still there.

The investigation handles the crimes of bribery (three to six years in prison), influence peddling (two to four) and belonging to a criminal organization (with a range of one to eight years, depending on the rank of the investigated and the seriousness of the crimes). .

Why is 'Tito Berni' released?

The same question is asked by the judge in the case, who has criticized the prosecutor's decision not to request preventive detention for the socialist deputies until a few days ago.

In principle, those investigated are free unless there are certain appraised circumstances, such as a risk of flight, repeated crimes or destruction of evidence.

The latter is the one that the judge has detected, but not the Prosecutor's Office, and the law prevents imposing precautionary measures that the prosecution has not claimed.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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• PSOE

• Mediator Case

• Congress of Deputies