The former president of Melilla arrested in Santander for irregularities by his Government

The number of former public officials of the previous Executive of the Autonomous City for alleged fraud and embezzlement rises to eight

MELILLA/SANTANDER, March 6 (EUROPA PRESS) -

The leader of Colación por Melilla (CPM) and former president of the Autonomous City, Mustafá Aberchán, has been arrested in Santander for his alleged involvement in several irregularities, such as vote buying and fraud in public contracts, when this formation held the Government of Melilla in collaboration with the PSOE and an expelled person from Ciudadanos, between 2019 and 2023.

Aberchán has been arrested, along with other high-ranking public officials allegedly involved in these events, in the Cantabrian capital, where he was for a training action in his capacity as a doctor.

Although the arrest was carried out in Santander and he will testify from here by judicial order and through videoconference, he is at the disposal of the Melilla Court that is investigating what happened, judicial sources have informed Europa Press. As planned, his statement had to be this Wednesday, when the Investigative Court number 4 of the Cantabrian capital is on duty.

Until now, the number of former public officials from the previous Melilla Government formed by CPM, PSOE and Eduardo de Castro (expelled from Ciudadanos) detained for the alleged commission of crimes of fraud and embezzlement has increased to eight after the arrest this Wednesday of the former Minister of Minors and Family Cecilia González Casas and on Tuesday the former Vice Minister of the Mayor and current regional representative of CPM Fatima Mohamed Kaddur.

This Wednesday, in addition, the operation continues with the arrest of an undetermined number of businessmen, contractors and intermediaries for alleged irregularities committed in public contracts.

A judicial spokesperson has confirmed that the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 2 of Melilla last night agreed to the imprisonment of four of the seven people arrested during the operation carried out in the Autonomous City of Melilla "for the alleged commission of the crimes of fraud in contracting, prevarication, embezzlement of public funds and membership in a criminal organization".

These are the current second vice president of the Melilla Assembly and former Minister of Infrastructure, Urban Planning and Sports, Rachid Bussián, and the opposition deputy and former Minister of Finance, Employment and Commerce Dunia Almansouri. Also from the former Minister of the Environment Hassán Mohatar and the former Vice Minister of the Green Line, Yonaida Se-lam.

The judge agreed to the entry into provisional prison, communicated and without bail, of three of the first detainees who were taken to the judicial headquarters, while the fourth detainee, Yonaida Sel-Lam, will be able to avoid prison after paying a bail of 5,000 euros. . Until now, the amount has not been paid, so the person under investigation will remain in provisional detention.

A fifth person under investigation, in this case the former deputy councilor of the Mayor and current CPM deputy Fatima Mohamed Kaddur, was arrested in Barcelona and provisionally released by a judge from Barcelona with the obligation to appear periodically in court.

The two remaining detainees, including the former president of the Autonomous City, Mustafá Aberchán and the former District Councilor Mohamed Ahmed, will appear throughout this Wednesday by videoconference before the Melilla judge in charge of the case, the first from Santander and the second from Granada.

This Wednesday, in addition, there was the arrest of the former counselor for Minors and also current regional representative of CPM Cecilia González Casas, who has been taken to the offices of the Higher Police Headquarters until she is brought to justice. With his arrest, there are now four of the five deputies that make up the CPM parliamentary group in the Melilla Assembly who are detained, all of them in a parliament that also includes PP (14 seats), PSOE (3), Vox (2) and Somos Melilla (1) with 25 seats.

Likewise, the National Police continues with the operation in several areas of Melilla, where an undetermined number of arrests are taking place, among contractors, businessmen and intermediaries related to the awarding of public contracts that are being investigated. The judicial spokesperson highlighted that "the investigation continues and searches by the Police continue to be carried out."