A candidate of the PSOE of the Canary Islands has been arrested for a network of fraud with European aid for food

The former General Director of Livestock of the Government of the Canary Islands, Taishet Fuentes.PSOE ANTIGUA (PSOE ANTIGUA)

The National Police have arrested, in collaboration with the Civil Guard, 12 people throughout Spain (two of them in the Canary Islands) accused of the crimes of bribery and influence peddling in the management of community subsidies linked to food products.

Among them are the former Director General of Livestock of the Government of the Canary Islands and PSOE candidate for Mayor of Antigua (Fuerteventura), Taishet Fuentes, and the Division General of the Civil Guard Francisco Javier Espinosa Navas, already retired.

The operation was carried out by the Provincial Brigade of the Tenerife National Police, under the orders of Investigating Court number 4 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in collaboration with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

There are 13 records in order in various Canary Islands, as well as in other parts of the peninsula.

The crimes under investigation were allegedly perpetrated in 2020 and 2021 by an alleged organization that spread through several Spanish provinces, which is why 13 records are planned in various Canary Islands, as well as in other parts of the Peninsula.

The Superior Court of Justice of the Canary Islands has confirmed that the proceedings are supervised by the Investigating Court number 4 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife and that, of the 12 arrests, two have been made on the islands and 10 other Spanish provinces, reports Efe.

The Internal Affairs Unit of the Civil Guard has intervened in the operation due to the presence of the general on the list of detainees.

Taishet Fuentes, detained in Fuerteventura, had been dismissed from his duties as director of Livestock in the Canary Islands last June due to a loss of confidence on the part of the regional president, Ángel Víctor Torres.

Fuentes was a councilor in the Antigua City Council (island of Fuerteventura) at the beginning of this legislature before making the leap to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries.

Last June he was dismissed on the grounds of the differences he maintains with the head of the Ministry, Alicia Vanoostende, especially after some statements that raised controversy in the primary sector.

Fuentes had been appointed by the PSOE to head the electoral list as a candidate for mayor of Antigua in the municipal elections on May 28 next.

Party sources have told Efe that he is going to review his candidacy;

and they have anticipated that he will probably be replaced, since the statutes of the formation "are very clear with the people accused."

In addition, among the people investigated is Juan Bernardo Fuentes, a socialist deputy in Congress for the province of Las Palmas, who was general director of Livestock at the beginning of his term and was replaced in office by his nephew Taishet Fuentes.

The other detainee whose name has come out is that of General Espinosa, a native of Seville, who was head of the Las Palmas command and is currently retired.

The crimes charged against him are limited to the years 2020 and 2021 for alleged belonging to a criminal organization, fraud and bribery.

At that time, Espinosa was working on the GAR-SI-Sahel project, training agents from the countries of that African area and coordinated by the European Union.