MADRID – One of the protagonists in the corruption scandal ‘Mediator’ is a former socialist deputy who allegedly offered businessmen interesting investments in the Canary Islands in exchange for privileges and money.
After paying a “toll”, the businessmen were overloaded with cocaine, prostitutes and Viagra. However, Juan Bernardo Fuentes, otherwise known as Tito Berni (PSOE) did not run the criminal network alone. He was helped by the regional general of the Guardia Civil, Francisco Espinosa Navas. And also the Canarian businessman, the ‘mediator’, Antonio Navarro Tacoronte. And apart from the general, they all appear in a video recorded in a hotel in the Canary Islands. In the video, they can be seen with a prostitute (see the image on this page).
Corruption “toll” of 5,000 euros
Moreover, the network is said to have been set up to give companies priority in public procurement. They reportedly charged an “economic toll” of €5,000 on the interested businessmen. Then they promised them privileges in public tenders in return for the payment of gifts or money.
Money for children as a “revolutionary tax”
The €5,000 “economic toll” was paid to the Vega Tetir Sports Association, which was chaired by the former Socialist deputy. According to Tacoronte’s statement, Fuentes asked for that amount to be transferred in a “subtle and loving” manner. In doing so, he made it clear that the money went to the children and called it a kind of “revolutionary tax”. Consequently, if the businessmen didn’t pay, they wouldn’t get access to some lucrative contract.
Throwing money in clubs
Initially, meetings between the businessmen and the network took place in the regional parliament, at the headquarters of the Guardia Civil or in other places that seemed ‘serious’ and inspired confidence. Then the businessmen were taken to clubs and hotels to party with the accused. Furthermore, according to one of the witnesses, three to four thousand euros were easily spent on those evenings. That money went on cocaine, prostitutes and Viagra, among other things. However, the promises of priority in public procurement were not kept.
No flight risk
After a five-hour interrogation, the public prosecutor did not demand a prison sentence for Fuentes because he considered the risk of flight or destruction of evidence to be nil. Moreover, the network is investigated for bribery, forgery, money laundering, influence and organised group crime.
“Perfectly defined and coordinated”
The network was “perfectly defined and coordinated,” the prosecution says. He places Juan Bernardo Fuentes Curbelo as the “brain” of the network. Fuentes worked with his cousin Taishet Fuentes who was the general manager of Cattle Breeding in the islands and Francisco Espinosa Navas, division general of the Guardia Civil. Canarian businessman Antonio Navarro Tacoronte recruited other businessmen for investment opportunities in the islands.
Declaration of ‘the mediator’
Mediator Navarro Tacoronte himself testified in court on February 22, 2022, that he conducted business with Fuentes in Madrid every 15 days. They “stayed at Hotel Victoria 4 and visited parliament with businessmen”. There they took pictures, went to lunch and partied for the rest of the day. “These parties included the consumption of alcohol, cocaine, the hiring of prostitutes and the consumption of Viagra by the protagonists,” the court statement said. The network would have been active from the end of 2020 well into the first quarter of the following year.
How was the corruption plot discovered?
The origin lay in a complaint that had nothing to do with the dismantled network, but with mediator Marcos Antonio Navarro Tacoronte. It was filed by the former sports director of the Cabildo de Tenerife, Ángel Luis Pérez Peña, for allegedly unauthorised spending on his cards of €2,750. When the mediator testified to the police, he said that he had agreed to the payments and that he believed the complainant was only trying to hide from his wife. The complaint was closed, but access to the mediator’s phones, which he himself agreed to, exposed the corruption plot.
Also read: Corruption scandals surrounding the Mayor of Marbella
