• Interior mediator dismisses the colonel of Santa Cruz de Tenerife for the works in barracks of the Civil Guard

The judge investigating the Cuarteles case is considering dividing the investigation so that the alleged illegalities in the reforms of barracks in the Canary Islands are specifically investigated by a court on the islands. The magistrate of Madrid would maintain the rest of the investigation on the works awarded in the Peninsula to the businessman linked to the plot MediatorÁngel Ramón Tejera de León, Mon.

According to sources of the investigation, the reason for dividing the cause is that there are substantial differences between what happened in the command of Tenerife with respect to the rest of Spain. In the Peninsula, the alleged irregularities began and ceased coinciding with the arrival of Lieutenant General Pedro Vázquez Jarava to the Command of the General Subdirectorate of Support. When he left the post, the awards to the businessman "stopped in their tracks", according to sources of the investigation.

On the other hand, the contracts obtained by Mon in Tenerife continued, in this case coinciding with the presence of José María Tienda Serrano at the head of that command. Tienda was dismissed last week and the central services of the Civil Guard took control of the accounts. Irregularities are being investigated in 40 works in the area that Tienda delivered to Mon.

The appointment of Vázquez Jarava to the position that gave him access to funds for the works in the barracks occurred in September 2015. He remained in the position until his retirement in January 2018. A year before his departure, in April 2017, the Internal Affairs Service of the Civil Guard presented a report to the Deputy Director of Operations under the name "draft prosecutor's report". It detailed the increase in contracts awarded to Mon in various units of the Civil Guard.

One of the copies was sent to Vázquez Jarava, who a month later concludes: "Understanding that in the reported proceedings or there is evidence of crime, it is not necessary to transfer the report of the Internal Affairs Service to the Prosecutor's Office." Six months later, José Manuel Holgado, director of the Civil Guard with the popular Juan Ignacio Zoido as Minister of the Interior, ordered the file of Internal Affairs and "the cessation of the proceedings".

Six months later, the Secretary of State for Security receives an anonymous letter giving an account of the irregularities in the command of Ávila. The complaint is referred to Internal Affairs and is the germ of the barracks case. It starts in Ávila, but extends to 13 commanderies and pointing to the responsibility of Vázquez Jarava, so the cause ends up being referred to a court in Madrid.

From what has been investigated so far, it is clear that not only the investigated commanders were responsible for Mon being the chosen businessman – instead of businessmen in the area, as was usual – but that the work was sometimes not carried out, or only partially, or invoiced above the market price.

In total, the works reviewed by the researchers exceed three million euros. The money was paid by each command after the department of Jarava released the funds, which could thus be used for awards to the Canarian businessman. In some cases, Jarava imposed the realization of works that had not even been claimed by those barracks.

The investigation is waiting for Patrimonio Nacional to appoint the expert that the judge had been claiming from the Ministry of the Interior for a year. According to sources of the investigation, if as planned the cause is fractioned, it will be easier to address the huge number of revisions of works in the barracks that are still pending.

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  • Tenerife
  • Canary Islands