Hectic morning for the interior minister in Congress. The attacks against his management have come from the right and from the left, from constitutionalism and from the independence movement. Marlaska has had to listen to how he was described as a "traitor" and demanded his "resignation" and even how the current situation in his Ministry and in the Civil Guard on account of the Barracks case was compared with the one that occurred in the stage of Luis Roldán.

The head of Interior has escaped all the questions that have been launched from the PP, ERC and PNV with generalities, has assured that his department "investigates all criminal behavior" and has avoided giving explanations shielding itself in the judicial proceedings and making comparisons with the stage of the PP.

The deputy of the PP, Ana Belén Vázquez, has released the barrage delving into the Tito Berni case and urging Marlaska to explain the actions being carried out by the Ministry to clarify the case of corruption that affects the former socialist deputy Juan Bernardo Fuentes Curbelo.

Marlaska has escaped the question and has made use of the reminder of cases of corruption of the PP especially the episode of computers destroyed by hammers. The popular representative has then asked him if it was he who gave the order that Internal Affairs of the Police pass the Tiro Berni case to the Civil Guard and authorized Curbelo to walk through the facilities of the Civil Guard Directorate taking pictures with the Virgen del Pilar.

He has also insisted on knowing if Marlaska is the "snitch with chevrons", the "python" who knew before anyone else that there were photos of Curbelo that incriminated him in corruption. The deputy has accused Marlaska of "dragging the Civil Guard through the mud to save his party." And he concluded: "A full-blown betrayal."

The minister has shielded himself again in the corruption of the PP making a dent in the operation mounted from Interior to avoid knowing evidence of the criminal actions of the party unlike the PSOE that expels from the party and forces to deliver the act immediately to its corrupt deputy.

Also ERC, through the mouth of the deputy Monserrat Bassa, has lashed out against the head of Interior asking him for accounts about police infiltrations in independence movements. A "democratic scandal", according to the Republican deputy who has demanded measures against the person responsible for these infiltrations. Marlaska has replied that the accusations that are being poured against the State Security Forces and Bodies are "a lie" and "nonsense". Bassa has responded by assuring that the Ministry of the Interior "is a sewer" and then has demanded the "resignation" of the minister.

The Roldán case

Finally, the deputy of the PNV, Mikel Legarda, has asked Marlaska about the so-called Barracks case that affects high commanders of the Civil Guard and thirteen commands. "It is estimated that seven out of ten euros have been defrauded in works awards" and in which the same employer related to the Mediator case is always involved.

To both cases, Mediator and Barracks, the deputy has added the fact that the EU has left its mission in the Sahel in the air until the halo of doubt about General Espinosa Navas is clarified, that of the Mediator case, due to the suspicions that he has used his position to favor peninsular businessmen with the purchase of material.

"All this is reminiscent of the Roldán case, something that makes us suspect an important corrupt network of high commanders of the Civil Guard, a plot that is causing perplexity, indignation and irreparable reputational damage" and then asked how it is possible that Marlaska has not given any public explanation and has questioned whether this is an example of transparency in a democratic society.

The minister has asked "not to generalize" and has assured that both in the Civil Guard and in the National Police there is "zero tolerance" with illicit behavior. Marlaska has assured that it was the PP who "stopped the investigation of the Barracks case" in 2017 and has insisted that it has been he, in 2018, quiwn reactivated the investigation returning "dignity" to the Ministry. Marlaska has in any case avoided giving further explanations on the grounds of ongoing judicial investigations.

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  • PP
  • Civil Guard
  • PNV
  • CKD
  • National Police
  • Ministry of the Interior
  • PSOE
  • Mediator Case