They investigate if the narco paid the votes of the electoral fraud in Melilla

• Anti-Corruption Courts assumes the investigation "of a large-scale operation of vote buying" in Melilla
• 28-M The JEC orders that the postal votes of Melilla deposited in mailboxes are not sent to the polling stations

The judicial investigation into the alleged electoral fraud in Melilla is investigating whether the Muslim and pro-Moroccan party CpM (Coalition for Melilla) has been illegally financed through donations made by criminal drug trafficking organizations. The objective of the narcos would be for the party, which has governed in coalition the last term, to enter the government again to obtain gifts from the local Executive or access minor contracts with the Administration that

can facilitate money laundering.

Money laundering could be done in two ways, investigators say: through the narcos' own companies or through third-party companies close to the party. A part of the amount of these awards would allegedly end up in the b accounts of Coalition for Melilla.

The

National Police

was deployed on Tuesday in Melilla to carry out

10 searches and arrest of 10 people

for its relationship with the alleged plot of theft of votes by mail. Among those arrested is the counselor and

of CpM,

as well as

, son-in-law of the leader of the formation,

, already convicted of electoral fraud.

As he has been able to know

, sources that handle the investigators have explained that in the face of the elections CpM would have been financed through donations of "black money" that would go to "the purchase of votes by mail". The main way to collect it, they explain to this newspaper, would be using local businessmen close to the party or through cash deliveries from the narcos themselves. They estimate that around 2% of the budget of the last year of CpM would come from drug trafficking. "They deliver that money to the party so that, when it enters the government again, it will be returned in exchange for contracts with the Administration, so these narcos launder their money and their interests."

The current Government of Melilla, which works in coalition between CpM and the

PSOE

, accumulated 7,663 minor contracts between July 1, 2019 and December 31, 2022, according to figures released by the PP in February and broken down in the

. The daily average was 9.1 contracts, awarded "almost always with the same companies," denounced the popular.

In this phase of the investigation, in which the National Police and the

Civil Guard

, the agents abound in two aspects: where the money for the votes comes from and where are the ballots that have not yet been executed in the offices of

. The proceedings in this case have been declared secret and are being conducted by the

.

For its part, the

has agreed that in the case

move to intervene Anti-Corruption

. The decree signed by

It states that there are "strong indications" of "a large-scale vote-buying operation". It adds that this operation, of which there are "solid" indications, "would be financed with part of the funds obtained by companies and individuals related to the political party indicated in public tenders, agreements, contracts and subsidies that would have been awarded during the last legislature".

The Prosecutor's Office detects, in addition to possible electoral crimes, those of prevarication, embezzlement, bribery and document falsification.