The PP accuses Marlaska of "covering up" Tito Berni's cocaine and brothels with the investigation of the 'barracks case'

The minister speaks of "specific cases" of corruption and accuses the PP of "stopping" the investigation into rigging in works contracts in 2017

MADRID, 15 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Popular Party has accused this Wednesday in Congress the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, of "covering up" the cocaine and brothels that appear in the summary of the 'Mediator case' and that affect the former socialist deputy Juan Bernardo Fuentes Curbelo, 'Tito Berni', using for this the 'barracks case' about alleged rigging in works.

In the control session with the Government, Grande-Marlaska has focused on the fact that in 2017, during the PP stage in the Government, "they tried to stop and stopped" the investigation of Internal Affairs of the Civil Guard on the alleged rigging in works in 13 Civil Guard headquarters.

These works were awarded to the builder Ángel Ramón Tejera de León, 'Mon', who is also mentioned in the 'Mediator case'. The Civil Guard did not refer the internal investigation to the Prosecutor's Office in 2017 because the director of the Benemérita took into account the version of Lieutenant General Pedro Vázquez Jarava, who did not see crimes, and who is currently charged in the case.

The investigation that affects Vázquez Jarava --retired since January 2018-- was reinitiated on May 29, 2018, days before the motion of censure and the change of government, by an anonymous letter sent from the Secretary of State for Security to Internal Affairs Service in which alleged irregularities in the Ávila Command were reported.

"It is indecent that he wants to turn the case of deputy Tito Berni into the Civil Guard case to cover up the deputies of the PSOE, cocaine and brothels," said PP deputy Ana Vázquez, reminding Grande-Marlaska that the "only unauthorized" is he as a minister for "lying" to the Chamber in the Melilla tragedy.

Grande-Marlaska has answered the deputy using a refrain. "The thief believes that everyone is of his condition," he said, referring to the period of Jorge Fernández Díaz in the Ministry of the Interior, in which Vázquez Jarava was appointed to assume the General Support Sub-directorate, in charge of supervising the Heritage of the Civil Guard. A stage, he has added, in which "computers were broken or evidence of corruption was stolen to avoid Justice."

Ana Vázquez has indicated that "if there is someone corrupt, let them pay for it", but she has added that the criticism of the PP for the investigation of the 'barracks case' hides a "full-fledged betrayal" of the Civil Guard itself "to save face to the PSOE".

The PP deputy has accused Grande-Marlaska of being the "snitch with stripes" and a "pitoniso", attributing a tip on him in the PSOE to act promptly against Fuentes Curbelo, expelled from the party.

He has also asked the minister if he authorized the visit of deputies and businessmen to the facilities of the Armed Institute in Madrid, as it appears in the 'Mediator' summary, and even for the case in which the husband of the director of the Civil Guard, Maria Gamez.

The Minister of the Interior has indicated that the "big difference" between the PSOE and the PP is that they act against corruption and "cooperate" with the Justice. For this, it has gone back to the arrival in mid-2018 of the Government of Pedro Sánchez, after the motion of censure, at which time the Civil Guard and Police were "returned to dignity" and the investigation of the 'barracks case' was resumed.

The PNV has also asked Grande-Marlaska about the cases of corruption that affect the Civil Guard which, according to Mikel Legarda, are reminiscent of the stage of the 'Roldán case'. The minister has told him that there is now "zero tolerance" for these behaviors and "all criminal behaviors" are being investigated, although he has asked him not to generalize.

In addition, he has reiterated that in 2017 "it seems that the investigation" of the 'barracks case' was stopped and then with the PSOE in the Government, in mid-2018, "it resumed" and "dignity was restored" to the Forces and State Security Corps.