The second operation against the purchase of votes in Melilla results in 33 defendants

The second operation related to the theft and purchase of votes in Melilla, for which the leader of the Coalition for Melilla, Mustafa Aberchán, was arrested this Tuesday, now has 33 defendants, five of them in provisional prison.

The judge in charge of the case, María del Carmen Perles, ordered this Friday the release with precautionary measures of 20 detainees, who are being investigated for alleged collaboration with the plot to rig public contracts of the Government of the autonomous city.

“They are all private citizens and none of them have carried out public responsibilities in the Government of the Autonomous City,” judicial sources assure of these latest investigations that have been brought to judicial disposal.

Among them are bricklayers, small construction businessmen or sellers of vehicle parts, according to other sources.

They are investigated for crimes of fraud in contracting, prevarication, embezzlement of public funds and membership in a criminal organization.

The Court of First Instance and Instruction number 2 of Melilla - in charge of this new operation named Santiago-Rusadir - yesterday took statements from 14 of the detainees, while the remaining six appeared this Friday.

The judge has decided to release them, although all of them must comply with several precautionary measures, such as the prohibition on leaving the country, they must hand over their passport and appear in court twice a month.

Five of the 33 investigated remain in provisional prison, notified and without bail, these sources add.

Among them is the former president of the Autonomous City, Mustafa Aberchán, president of the autonomous city between July 1999 and July 2000, and the head of the Coalition for Melilla (CpM) list for 28-M and former councilor of Treasury, Dunia Almansouri, as well as other former councilors.

One of the measures adopted by the judge allows the release of one of those investigated if he pays a bail of 5,000 euros, although the sources have not specified whether this payment has been made.

This case is part of the preliminary proceedings opened in May 2023 for an alleged case of purchasing votes by mail.

Since then, it has been under judicial secrecy.

Police sources place the epicenter of the plot in the localist party, which was part of the tripartite government of the autonomous city presided over by Eduardo de Castro (who would be expelled from Ciudadanos) and which also included the PSOE.

The magistrate concludes in one of her orders that the political party intended to “attain the Government” – it achieved this in the previous legislature, when it joined the tripartite party headed by the Ciudadanos candidate and in which the PSOE was also present – ​​and “to remain ” in the same after 28-M through the purchase of votes in both elections.

The judge emphasizes that there was “a distribution of functions among the people involved” in what she calls a “criminal network.”

When the first arrests in this case came to light, on May 28, the focus was already on micro-businesses and self-employed workers in this town who allegedly received rigged contracts between 2019 and 2023 from the local government departments controlled by the Coalition for Melilla. (CpM), the Aberchán party.

According to sources close to the investigation, the plot used the four ministries that were in the hands of the local party during the previous legislature to divert money through the allegedly irregular awarding of minor contracts, as well as various subsidies, with the ultimate objective of financing the plot. and benefit their alleged ringleaders.

The suspicion falls on those awards that were divided into smaller contracts to avoid the call for public tenders and, in this way, have a free hand to award them, avoiding their oversight.

The investigations point to the alleged rigging of awards worth six million euros.

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