The Prosecutor's Office requests 21 months in prison for a former councilor of the Government of Murcia for the discharges into the Mar Menor

Antonio Cerdá, in a file image.efe

The Murcia Prosecutor's Office has requested 21 months in prison for the former Minister of Agriculture and Water of the Government of Murcia Antonio Cerdá and for the former Water Commissioner of the Segura Hydrographic Confederation (CHS) Manuel Aldeguer for their alleged responsibility in the discharge of contaminated water to the Minor Sea. The public ministry thus takes another step in the framework of the so-called

, which has been investigating since December 2017 polluting discharges into the salty lagoon from illegal desalination plants in Campo de Cartagena.

In a letter notified to the parties this Wednesday and to which EL PAÍS has had access, the prosecutor considers that all the regulations and directives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Water to avoid polluting discharges into the lagoon "remained on a dead letter" because the then head of the department, Antonio Cerdá, "responsible for its implementation and in order not to harm the agricultural sector, did not have the personal or material means to carry out the mandatory inspections expressed in the action programs."

Nor did it establish, according to the indictment, which department should carry out these inspections, it did not specify the way to carry out the controls or their periodicity and it never applied the planned sanctioning regime. "The defendant, in short, limited himself to establishing a formal provision, but being aware of its lack of operability, he acted as if he were doing it, but in reality nothing was done, thus frustrating the objective of the rule," warns the prosecutor, and insists that Cerdá "omitted the regulation of an autonomous and effective system of inspections and control of action programs on nitrates that would ensure their compliance by farmers and that would enable the application of the sanctioning regime."

As for the former high-ranking official of the CHS, who is currently the general director of Water in the Generalitat Valenciana, the prosecutor recalls that in 2007 and 2008 he commissioned studies from external companies on the use of desalination plants without a license, and also received numerous reports from the agrarian association COAG in this regard. The CHS, assures the prosecutor, "was aware of the existence of a large number of drilling and desalination plants in the Cartagena field that lacked administrative authorization, and that this was a major environmental problem due to the elimination of sewage water. rejection loaded with nitrates and with high conductivity”. However, "he maintained a situation of conscious permissiveness in the face of this way of proceeding,not disposing by any of its managers to carry out any inspection activity on these irregular desalination actions until December 2012″.

According to the prosecutor, Aldeguel was responsible in this matter and could open files ex officio "without the need for a prior complaint" against the illegal facilities, which he did not do, since "he did not adopt any decision for their inspection, sanction and dismantling, consenting a situation of illegality and lack of control of discharges that collide head-on with the functions assigned to the Water Commissioner”. In addition to prison sentences, the prosecutor asks for both former senior officials fines of 5,760 euros and special disqualification from holding any public office for nine years, as well as payment of costs. The prosecutor also accuses 39 farmers and agricultural companies in his letter, for which he asks for sentences ranging between five months and six years in prison, and compensation ranging from 1.800 to 1.7 million euros for alleged crimes against the environment and serious recklessness committed with their actions.

On the other hand, it asks 37 farmers and companies for civil responsibilities for the damage caused to the maritime and terrestrial public domain, with compensation ranging between 31,000 and 1.7 million euros. For the former president of the CHS Rosario Quesada, who is also under investigation in this process, the prosecutor requests the provisional filing of the case, since he understands that control over illegal wells and desalination plants was not his responsibility, but rather a function of the commissioner of waters. Likewise, it requests that the proceedings against the INSAL company, which was in charge of installing desalination plants on farms, be archived, since the prosecutor considers that its activity was legal and it has not been justified that it committed any crime against the environment.

In his letter, which extends over almost a hundred pages, the prosecutor underlines the growing deterioration that the Mar Menor has suffered in recent years as a result mainly of agricultural discharges, although he also points to other sources of pollution such as urban pressure, tourism and the contributions of groundwater from Campo de Cartagena. Agricultural discharges, he stresses, have been increasing due to the widespread use of nitrogenous fertilizers to optimize harvests, and the proliferation of illegal wells and desalination plants has been a constant, since the water from the Tajo-Segura Transfer has not been enough to supply crops in the area.

You can follow CLIMA Y MEDIO AMBIENTE on