The defense of Francisco Espinosa, who remains in pretrial detention, denies that the person under investigation has the capacity to destroy evidence
The defense of the General of the Civil Guard Francisco Espinosa, investigated in the mediator casehas once again requested the investigating judge to release his defendantthe only one who remains in preventive detention, alleging that he cannot alter evidence in the procedure since is a “social corpse” with no ability to influence anyone.
In the letter, to which he has had access Europa Press, Espinosa’s legal representation indicates that his preventive detention to avoid the destruction or alteration of evidence “is taking longer than desired and procedurally appropriate”. And he remembers that the investigation has already lasted for more than a year and, except for the last month and a half, under summary secrecy.
He also motivates the request for freedom in that the indications that appear in the records against his defendant “nor suppose a possible commission of especially serious crimes neither in terms of its significance, nor in terms of its amount”, and adds that Espinosa’s procedural behavior “has been fully collaborative both with the SAI Internal Affairs Service –“he facilitated the location of the cash at his home, facilitated the access codes to their personal storage devices, their personal computers and their mobile phones”– as with the instruction of the present case –“he answered without reluctance and without any ambiguity to all the questions that were transferred to him both by the prosecutor as by the instructor”–.
The only one who can destroy evidence?
Espinosa’s defense also wonders if his defendant is the only one likely to be suspected of a possible alteration of evidenceand does not understand why “he must suffer the consequences of the delay in the conduct of proceedings, a delay caused by completely unrelated circumstances”, in reference to the suspension of the witness statements of his former lover and that of another businessman from the Canary Islands.
“Is it fair that Mr. Espinosa continues in prison, while other subjects involved take advantage and use this procedure to achieve ‘notoriety’?” he has been retired for more than two years and after being exposed and “public derision” in the media, he has no capacity to influence anyone.
“Honestly, it is more than evident that Espinosa is a social corpse with no ability to relate to anyone, much less, with the possibility of influencing in any way any type of evidence that can be carried out in this procedure,” he concludes.
Postponement of declarations
The magistrate of the Investigating Court number 4 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Ángeles Lorenzo-Cáceres, has agreed suspend and postpone the statements scheduled for this Friday of the former lover of the retired General of the Civil Guard Francisco Espinosa, investigated in the Mediator case, and of the businessman Luis Monzón, of the Lopesan Group.
This is stated in a letter to which Europa Press has had access and which quotes an order of the Court of March 25 which provides for “the suspension and new indication which will be communicated personally to the witnesses and the parties persons in the procedure once it is relocated (…) adopting the necessary measures to preserve its dissemination in the media”.
Legal sources confirm to Europa Press the existence of this ruling which, de factoannuls the appearance of both witnesses for this Friday at 10:00 a.m. in the framework of the investigation that is being followed into the alleged plot to collect bribes in exchange for political favors that would have former socialist deputy Juan Bernardo Fuentes Curbelo, alias ‘Tito Berni’, at the epicenter.
According to the summary of the case, General Espinosa went so far as to ask the “mediator” of the plot, Antonio Navarro Tacoronte, and another investigated businessman to They will hire their lover for 3,000 euros a month to perform administrative tasks.
For his part, Monzón would have been one of the people that Espinosa contacted so that other defendants could make their way in their businesses in the Canary Islands. In his judicial statement, Espinosa indicated that he would have made arrangements for important businessmen from the Canary Islands to meet with Antonio Bautista –a businessman who was also investigated– to try to install solar panels in his business.
One of those companies was the Lopesan hotel group, although the general explained that they did not come to fruition and that he only made the presentations because he wanted Bautista to give him a job after retirement. “That is why I made an effort to try to get him to meet with people from the Lopesan group, but I did not promote the hiring by forcing anyone,” he added.
So, these two testimonial statements, now without a fixed date, would revolve around the figure of Espinosa, the only defendant in the case who remains in pretrial detention pending the completion of the analysis of his electronic devices and bank accounts.
Hierarchy in the Mediator case
In this case, the alleged existence of a network headed by the general, Tito Berni, the nephew of the former socialist deputy Taishet Fuentes Gutiérrez and the Canarian businessman Antonio Navarro Tacoronte that he would have dedicated himself to collecting money -although also trips and parties- in exchange for political favors.
According to the investigators, the plot would be made up of a criminal organization “formed mainly by three pillars and a clear link between all those investigated.” It would have “a perfectly structured and defined hierarchy, with a clear division of functions and dedicated to the commission of crimes related to corruption such as bribery and influence peddling.”
Research indicates that the group pursued “an obvious lucrative purpose by obtaining economic enrichment as well as different personal benefitsas a result of illicit actions”.
