Juan Bernardo Fuentesdeputy of the PSOE in Congress, has been arrested at the request of the judge in the framework of the mediator case. According to police sources, the search of his home in Puerto del Rosario, Fuerteventura, was carried out in his presence this Monday.
For its part, the PSOE of the Canary Islands has opened a disciplinary file and has provisionally suspended from militancy to Fuentes and also to his nephew, the former general director of Livestock of the Canarian Government Taishet Fuentesdismissed last summer due to a “loss of confidence”, due to the alleged irregularities in the management of subsidies linked to the livestock sector.
What is the Mediator case?
The Mediator case, for which 12 people have already been arrested, investigates an alleged extortion ring to companies in the livestock and food industry in exchange for favors such as avoid sanitary inspections and streamline aid files.
Those investigated include Francisco Javier Espinosa Navasretired general of the Civil Guard who became the headquarters of the Las Palmas Command between 2008 and 2012. According to reports, Espinosa came to negotiate a commission worth almost 4 million euros for an operation in Africa.
Along with him, businessmen Alberto Montesdeoca, Esteban Banús Ricoma and María Inmaculada Roca Enrich, Banús’s wife, also appear in this plot, among others.
According to the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands (TSJC), the crimes under investigation are those of bribery, money laundering, influence peddling, Documents forgery y membership in criminal organization.
The government will open an investigation.
The Executive of the Canary Islands has announced that it will initiate an investigation to clarify the event. In fact, the Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Alicia Vanoostende, has asked the Governing Council for a detailed report on the procedures and formalities for the distribution of European aid.