The Santa Cruz de Tenerife judge who is instructing the so-called Mediator case has released former PSOE deputy in Congress Juan Bernardo Fuentes Curbelo, although on charges of bribery, falsehood, money laundering, influence peddling and belonging to an organized criminal group.
As reported by the Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands, the Prosecutor's Office - the only prosecution in the case at the moment - has not requested prison for Fuentes Curbelo because it does not appreciate a flight risk or considers that there is a danger of destroying evidence.
Of the thirteen arrested for this plot of alleged extortion of businessmen in the livestock and food sectors in exchange for receiving favorable treatment in inspections or in the process of European aid, only the retired general of the Civil Guard Francisco Javier Espinosa has been imprisoned. .
When the case broke out on February 14 with the first arrests in the Canary Islands and in several provinces of the peninsula, Juan Bernardo Fuentes Curbelo was a deputy in Congress for Las Palmas, a seat he resigned that same day, after being suspended from militancy with precautionary nature by the PSOE.
It was not until this Monday that his arrest was formally ordered, once Investigating Judge number 4 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife received official confirmation from Congress that he was no longer a member of the Chamber and, therefore, he had lost his status as a taxpayer (against a deputy in Cortes only the Supreme Court can proceed criminally)
Fuentes Curbelo was arrested in Puerto del Rosario (Fuerteventura), witnessed the search of his home and was later transferred to the Police Station on Avenida Tres de Mayo in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in whose cell he spent the last night.
This morning, he gave a statement for about five hours: he arrived at the courts of the Tenerife capital at 8:45 a.m. and left at 1:30 p.m., judicial sources have indicated.
Among those accused in the plot, there is also his nephew Taishet Fuentes (PSOE), who replaced him as general director of Livestock of the Government of the Canary Islands when he agreed to Congress.
The main figure in the alleged operations of the organization, according to the investigators, Taishet Fuentes was dismissed from his position in the autonomous community last summer. At that time, the spokesman for the Canarian government, Julio Pérez (PSOE), explained that he had been separated from the Livestock area due to "loss of confidence."
However, the PSOE of Fuerteventura was going to present him as a candidate for mayor of the Antigua City Council in the elections next May. Separated from the party like his uncle, he will no longer lead the socialist candidacy for that municipality.
