The Provincial Court of Madrid has refused to charge the cousin of the mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, in the case that investigates the purchase of masks and other health products during the pandemic through businessmen Luis Medina and Alberto Luceño, who acted as intermediaries and who received substantial commissions.
Thus, the Third Section of the Madrid Court has dismissed the appeal filed by the PSOE and the Municipal Socialist Group against the decision of the investigating judge Adolfo Carretero to deny the request for a statement by the cousin of the mayor of Madrid Carlos Martínez Almeida as an investigator.
According to the instructor, there was no evidence to support that Carlos Martínez-Almeida "intervened in the negotiations of those under investigation with the Madrid City Council and unless he had financial compensation for it" and, therefore, he could not be charged with a traffic offense of influences. This position was also supported by the prosecutor, who judged his involvement in the matter to be irrelevant.
The Court understands that "a positive and intentional action aimed at provoking a flawed decision process to obtain unfair decisions is not discovered, and such a circumstance cannot be deduced or inferred without further ado from the only accredited action, consisting of the fact of having provided the address of contact with the public official".
The PSOE and the Socialist Municipal Group defended that the cousin of the mayor of Madrid be summoned for mediating between the consistory and the commission agent Luis Medina. The judges consider, however, that the fact that he gave Medina the telephone number and email of the Coordinator of Budgets and Human Resources of the Madrid City Council, Elena Collado, is not enough to charge him.
"The mere circumstance does not necessarily entail the carrying out of further pressures or attempts of torticera manipulation in his sphere of power based on the circumstance of his kinship with the mayor of the Madrid City Council. No data is recorded in this regard beyond the statements of the cited accusation that can only be considered as potentially possible", indicates the car known this Monday.
