The judge in the ‘Mediator case’ has agreed to keep Civil Guard general Francisco Espinosa in prison to “guarantee access to certain means of evidence that could be harmed” if his release were approved.

In an order this Thursday, the head of the Investigating Court Number 4, Ángeles Lorenzo-Cáceres, dismissed the petition of Espinosa’s defense, which requested that he be granted provisional release.

The magistrate in this case, who is investigating a plot of fraud and bribes to businessmen in exchange for favors, as well as extortion of others, denies this claim, assessing “the nature of the alleged crime committed, the penalty that could correspond to it, the circumstances of the fact and background of the accused”. In the case, the former socialist deputy Juan Bernardo Fuentes, considered the ringleader of the plot, his nephew Taishet Fuentes and the mediator, Marco Antonio Navarro Tacoronte, are also being investigated.

The instructor seeks with this decision “to guarantee the effectiveness of the procedural investigation and the availability of the accused to judicial appeals.” In addition, she recalls that this measure was agreed “with the purpose of guaranteeing access to certain means of evidence that could be harmed in the event that it had not been adopted” it.

“This is clear even from the police reports presented by the Internal Affairs Unit of the Civil Guard. Consistent with this, the police unit has carried out an enormous action aimed at obtaining the evidence that justified the request that today the Public Ministry ratifies this report,” explains the judge.

The Prosecutor’s Office sees a “real risk of destruction” of evidence
Specifically, the magistrate refers to the brief presented by the Prosecutor’s Office in which she opposed her release. The Public Prosecutor, in particular, requested provisional detention “with a purely instrumental purpose and for the time strictly necessary considering that there is a real risk of destruction of sources of evidence.”

In the order of February 16, by which she agreed to send Espinosa to prison, the judge assured that, if she remained free, “it could frustrate the police investigation”, verifying in turn payments of the plot and noting that more than 60,000 euros at his address of “illegal origin”.

The instructor maintains that Espinosa would have made “use of the personal relationships that he would have with relevant people from the public and business sectors in the Canary Islands” and that his participation in the criminal plot was “essential” because of those contacts and because of “the ability to transmit confidence to the different businessmen in the achievement of their illicit purposes”.

Sources say that meetings in Congress with businessmen are “usual” and Espinosa that he received payments
Sources say that meetings in Congress with businessmen are “usual” and Espinosa that he received payments
In the statement he made before the judge on February 16, to which RTVE has had access, the general acknowledged that he had received payments from businessmen for hotels or flights and that he was recruited by Navarro Tacoronte to enlarge his “fabric of spider” with more businessmen.

Legal sources have confirmed to Europa Press that the Court has agreed to the formation of three different separate pieces, one of which is currently under summary secrecy.