The judge traces the assets of this former GAR-SI Sahel command in Belgium, Mauritania, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Morocco and Cape Verde
MADRID, 22 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The General of the Civil Guard Francisco Espinosa Navas came to meet in an office in the General Directorate of the Armed Institute in Madrid with Marcos Antonio Navarro Tacoronte, considered as an intermediary of the ‘Mediator’ plot, where they talked about finding the formula so that the businessmen who supposedly paid commissions hired her lover, whom they called with the alias “Chocho Volador”.
This is stated in a report from the Provincial Brigade of the Judicial Police, consulted by Europa Press, which accredits a meeting in Madrid on November 12, 2020 in which the “journey through the Spanish capital” of Navarro Tacoronte and the cheese businessman is collected. Alberto Montesdeoca García, including a visit to the General Directorate of the Civil Guard.
The investigators of this alleged case of corruption in the Canary Islands refer to a recording of eight hours and 25 minutes found on Navarro Tacoronte’s phone, which shows that when he and the retired Civil Guard general were in his office at alone “there is talk of the alleged hiring of A.H.M., alias the “Flying Pussy” and the general’s lover.”
“You already called the Chocho Volador to see if…”, Navarro Tacoronte begins, to which the general answers in the affirmative. “She is delighted, she is looking forward to it”, and they mention aspects such as that she is a relative of a well-known businessman from Las Palmas related to soccer.
In that conversation, General Espinosa Navas -whom the Tenerife judge sent to provisional prison after his arrest- also refers to the payments that the businessmen had to make to him. “You’ll either give me or leave me that expense card, that’s the good one,” he says, to which the ‘achiever’ of the plot replies giving his approval and reminding him that he doesn’t need to keep invoices for his purchases and trips.
In the Police report, it is stated that the cheese businessman who supposedly had to assume the hiring of the general’s lover and the “achiever” of the plot took photographs posing in the chapel of the General Directorate of the Civil Guard and that they were later to eat at a restaurant, joining General Espinosa Navas.
For the investigators, both the retired general and Juan Bernardo Fuentes Curbelo tried to “seduce” the businessmen with visits to Congress and the General Directorate of the Civil Guard. Internal Affairs of the Civil Guard points out, in fact, that there are indications that show the existence of “multiple payments in restaurants, hotel establishments, flights, Prepaid MasterCard Post Cards, other favors and even the delivery of cash.”
According to the judicial statement of Navarro Tacoronte, which the Prosecutor’s Office collects in a document that is part of the summary, they referred to the general with the alias ‘Dad’. The businessman highlighted Espinosa Navas that he was “much more prudent” than Fuentes Curbelo “when speaking and also receiving ‘gifts’ or asking for them.”
In the summary, to which Europa Press has had access, there is also a report from the Internal Affairs Service of the Civil Guard with a delivery date of February 8, 2023, which includes the bank movements of the general who was in charge of the GAR project. -SI Sahel and his “relationship outside of marriage for 20 years”.
They also reflect that the general himself refers to his lover as “the flying pussy”. “The general asked the deponent (Antonio Navarro Tacoronte) to justify a trip to Fuerteventura to see his lover… He needed a document stating that he was going to give a conference, although it never took place” .
In addition, he asked the businessman Antonio Bautista Padro to hire the lover for 3,000 euros as a commercial and in return the former command of the Civil Guard promised this businessman to be able to invest in the installation of solar panels in Mozambique and Cape Verde for 35 million euros, ” of which 10% would be taken for representation expenses”.
According to Navarro Tacoronte’s statement, the businessman “did not balance his accounts” and refused to do so, for which the general “gets angry and cuts off relations” with the businessman. The considered ‘intermediary’ of the plot points out that what the general wanted was to “look for an economic future because he was going to retire and he had to find a future for both himself and A.H.”.
In relation to the retired general, the magistrate of the Investigating Court number 4 of Tenerife agreed on February 1 that the Asset Recovery and Management Office (ORGA) locate the assets “presumably from illegal activity” of the ex-command of the Civil Guard and his close family environment, in Belgium, Mauritania, Niger, Mali, Senegal, Morocco and Cape Verde.
The judge thus welcomes, with the approval also of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, the request of Internal Affairs of the Civil Guard that explained that Espinosa, in addition to having gone through the command of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, was director of the Rapid Action Surveillance Groups and intervention in the Sahel (GARSI Sahel) until his retirement.
In his office, Internal Affairs put the magnifying glass on the link between the general and the plot with the businessman Santiago Suárez Estévez and his company ‘Asesoramiento y Servicio de Drones SL’, and breaks down a series of contracting files from which that company would have resulted awarded in the GARSI Sahel Project. There is even talk that the general should be paid 70 percent of what was agreed and the rest “on delivery of the drones.”
The instructor, in this February order to which Europa Press has had access, collects a list prepared by Internal Affairs with the contracts signed with the company and the countries where the material was going. Thus, she cites for example that in 2020 she supplied equipment to GARSI Sahel Mauritania and Niger, and in 2021 she delivered to Bamako (Mali).
The instructor adds that, from the investigation, it can be inferred that the relationship between Espinosa and Suárez Estévez resulted in contractual ties in Mauritania, Niger and Mali, and that the general traveled to Cape Verde, Morocco and Senegal. She also remembers that the businessman paid Espinosa for stays and services in Gran Canaria.
And given that the proceedings presuppose that there were “gifts, favors or compensation from the official for the benefit of his assets” it also agrees to include Belgium, based on statements collected from another of the defendants, the businessman Navarro Tacoronte.
After this resolution, the court officiates the office of the Internal Affairs Operations Section of the Civil Guard so that, through the ORGA, it locates those assets.
