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The grand summary for police and business corruption in Mallorca, at risk of being annulled

2022-06-25T03:49:05.928Z


The Court debates whether to nullify the investigations due to the alleged irregularities committed by the judge and the prosecutor who directed them


The magnate of the night Bartolomé Cusarch upon his arrival at the Audiencia de Palma on June 13, to attend the first session of the trial of the 'Cursach case', against him and 15 other defendants. ATIENZA (EFE)

The biggest case of corruption uncovered in Mallorca in recent years, which revealed a plot of collusion between the owner of the largest nightclubs on the island, Bartolomé Cursach, and the Palma Local Police risks coming to nothing after nine years of investigations.

The trial against Cursach and 22 other people, including 14 police officers, two officials and a former official, has been suspended this week at the Provincial Court of Palma, after the three judges who make up the court decided to withdraw to deliberate whether to annul the entire process.

The defenses wield to request the annulment the alleged irregularities committed during the investigation of the case by the judge and the prosecutor who directed them.

For the moment, the court, which deals with the alleged collusion of the nightlife tycoon Bartolomé Cursach with agents of the Palma Local Police to benefit his businesses, has rejected the appearance as witnesses of Judge Manuel Penalva and former prosecutor Miguel Ángel Subirán, al to consider that "it would be of no use" and that it could harm them in the process that is being carried out against them in the Superior Court of Justice for allegedly having coerced witnesses and prevaricated in their inquiries into the case.

The Prosecutor's Office opposed this measure, raised by the private accusations.

In the last session of the trial, last Wednesday, the court did agree to include the video of a statement by the CEO of the Cursach group during the investigation, which the defense presents as evidence that his rights were violated.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor recognizes that the rights of those under investigation were violated during the investigation, but defends that this is not enough to annul the entire case.

“If the presumption of innocence is violated, this can have consequences.

It may have repercussions, but not necessarily the annulment of the proceedings, ”said the prosecutor Juan Carrau, when exposing his position in the questions prior to the opening of the trial.

"The public prosecutor's office may be under suspicion, but this does not mean that all its jurisdictional actions are under suspicion," said prosecutor Tomás Herranz, appointed by the State Attorney General's Office to participate in the process after being removed. his predecessor.

The defenses argue that the entire investigation is contaminated by the lack of an impartial judge.

Cursach's lawyer, Enrique Molina, also criticized what he considers to be a lack of specificity in the prosecution's accusations against his client, who is facing a request for a year and a half in prison for belonging to a criminal organization and prevarication.

The lawyer assured that none of the indictments, neither from the Prosecutor's Office nor from the private accusations, attribute a specific behavior to the businessman.

The rest of the defenses have followed a similar line and have been used to sow doubts about the private accusations, which represent businessmen harmed by the corruption plot.

The lawyer Gaspar Oliver, who represents two investigated policemen, requested the expulsion of the private accusations, considering that they are acting in an "instrumental" way to defend the interests of the former investigators.

After insinuating Oliver a lack of impartiality, the president of the court, Samantha Romero, admonished him: "We are entering a dynamic that is not tolerable, at the slightest strange behavior, pressure or anything we observe in our daily lives, it will be denounced" Romero asserted.

The trial for the

Cursach case

began on the 13th after nine years of investigations, three investigating judges, several separate pieces and dozens of investigated.

Twenty-three people sit on the defendants' bench at the Palma Provincial Court, including Cursach.

Along with him,

number two

of his business conglomerate, Bartolomé Sbert, and three other workers are being prosecuted;

14 agents and commanders of the Palma Local Police;

three officials and a former public official.

The defendants are accused of a range of crimes that range from belonging to a criminal organization to prevarication, through threats or revealing secrets.

The

Cursach case

has had a bizarre trajectory.

It started in 2009 from an investigating judge and a year later it passed into the hands of Judge Penalva and Prosecutor Subirán, both accused of breaking the law during the investigations.

In addition to these two, another magistrate who inherited the instruction, Manuel Florit, also ended up separated after the scandal caused by his decision to seize the mobile phones and computers of two journalists who had been covering the case for some time.

Cursach was arrested at the time and spent 13 months in prison.

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Source: elparis

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