'Tito Berni' denies his participation in the 'Mediator' plot but acknowledges that his company received European aid

The judge replies to the former PSOE deputy that "obviously" there is a "triangle" between those investigated with conversations and payments

MADRID, 2 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The former deputy of the PSOE Juan Bernardo Fuentes Curbelo, alias 'Tito Berni', has denied in court that he is part of the leadership of the so-called 'Mediator plot', accused of attracting businessmen under the promise of "obtaining privileges" in terms of contracting public, at the same time that he has recognized that his company received European aid when he was in charge of the management of Livestock in the Canary Islands.

This is stated in the statement of the former deputy - to which Europa Press has had access - which took place in court on February 22 in the framework of the investigation that is being followed in the Investigating Court Number 4 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife . As the investigating magistrate warns at the beginning of the interrogation, Fuentes Curbelo appeared as being investigated for alleged crimes of bribery, documentary falsification, money laundering, belonging to an organized group.

As the investigators have pointed out in the summary of the procedure, to which this news agency has also had access, the plot would be headed by Fuentes Curbelo himself; his nephew Taishet Fuentes Gutiérrez, general director of Livestock; the general of the Civil Guard Francisco Espinosa Navas and the businessman from the Canary Islands Antonio Navarro Taraconte, also known as the "mediator".

Faced with such indications, the judge has directly asked Fuentes Curbelo if he was the one who introduced the members of the so-called plot. "Are you the one who introduces Navarro Tacoronte to his nephew? At what moment is this triangle formed?" The instructor questioned him.

The deputy has unmarked. "I don't know what triangle he asks me about", he said. The judge replied: "The one that obviously exists. Navarro meets with his nephew, meets with you and between the three of you there is a crossover of conversations and transfers and payments."

The former leader has reported that he met the "mediator" of the plot that is now being investigated at the beginning of his tenure as general director of Livestock. "Navarro Tacoronte introduced himself to me for the first time (...) in the General Directorate of Livestock. He stopped by my office. I don't remember the exact month. But it was at the beginning of my term. He introduced himself with a man from Tenerife (... .) as a businessman dedicated to the installation of photovoltaics", he specified.

Faced with such a statement, the judge has asked him if within his duties as director of livestock he was receiving businessmen. Fuentes Curbelo has said yes. "I did not speak to him again until he was a deputy," he added while specifying that the "mediator" contacted him again. "He kept telling me that he had companies interested in establishing themselves in the Canary Islands Special Zone," he said. According to the summary, Navarro Tacoronte assured the police headquarters that he knew Fuentes Corbelo "since childhood."

The former deputy of the PSOE has indicated to the judge that he stayed one day with the Canarian businessman in the Lower House, in Madrid. "We ate once in the cafeteria of the Congress of Deputies", she said, to which the instructor asked if this "businessmen's walk" was "normal". "It is common for many businessmen to come to Congress to present their problems and try to solve them," said Fuentes Curbelo.

"Having a director of Livestock, who is his nephew who precedes him in the position, they have to go to the deputy of Congress at the Madrid headquarters. What? Is the general management ineffective?", asked the judge.

Asked if during his tenure as General Director of Livestock he intervened in any file related to his company, the former deputy has assured that "the first thing" that the legal services of the general directorates advised him is that I leave my responsibilities as a company. "I don't remember having participated directly, but my company has been a beneficiary of subsidies and aid from European funds," he added.

Fuentes Curbelo has pointed out that the person in charge of managing said aid has been his wife. In line, the judge asked him if she could specify the amount received, to which the former deputy indicated: "I don't remember them all from memory."

Asked if he has used his status as Director of Livestock or Deputy to favor the scope of his companies, Fuentes Curbelo has been blunt: "Never". On the sidelines, he has assured that he himself keeps the accounts of the Vega Tetir Sports Association, a company that according to the summary would have benefited from the plot.

In line, the judge has notified Fuentes Curbelo that he has not yet been able to carry out a patrimonial investigation of his accounts because until recently he was a deputy. "There are documented meals, documented bills paid, documented meetings and all of this coincides with, at least for now - and without prejudice to the progress of the investigation - in income in the counseling account. Even their personal accounts have not been investigated because you held the status of a taxpayer that prevented this instruction from investigating in other areas," he specified.

As part of the statement, the former deputy told the judge how his political life began. "I joined the socialist party in 1994," he said, while explaining that he has spent "many years" without a public position in local politics and that he assumed the position of deputy in Congress in August 2019. At the beginning After the interrogation, the instructor recalled that she resigned from her seat on February 14 and that for this reason she has lost her capacity as a registered office.

Fuentes Curbelo has indicated to the judge that he was director of Livestock in the Canary Islands from August 2019 to February 2020. Before that, he has assured that he worked as a tax advisor in a company where he works with his son and two other employees . He has specified that he is "qualified in various facets of livestock", a branch in which he began working in 1994.