The spokesman for the Canarian Coalition in the Cabildo of Lanzarote, Sergio Machín, was arrested this Tuesday by agents of the Central Operative Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard. The arrest is part of the new anti-corruption raid in Andalusia, the Canary Islands and Extremadura, which is coordinated by the presiding judge of the Court of Instruction 6 of Seville, Mercedes Alaya.
For the moment there are at least 30 arrests of technicians, senior municipal officials and politicians. The Civil Guard is carrying out searches at the headquarters of the Seville Provincial Council as part of a new operation called "Enredadera", and also at the headquarters of the company Fitonovo in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
In the Canary Islands, as La Voz has been able to confirm, there have been two arrests so far. One, in Lanzarote, of councilor Sergio Machín. Another, of a businessman in Gran Canaria. The arrest of Machín would be related to alleged irregularities in the awarding of public contracts. In recent legislatures, Machín has held various positions in the Cabildo, being in charge, among others, of the area of Waste and that of Roads and Works, which was the one he occupied the longest.
Several of the contracts investigated in this operation initiated in Andalusia are related to the maintenance and cleaning of road margins. In addition, in most cases, the events correspond to previous legislatures, dating back to the 2003-2007 term. At that time, Machín was a member of the PIL, although in the middle of that legislature he left the party and joined CC.
"False invoicing" and "bribes"
Specifically, this new front opened by Judge Alaya, which has reached the Canary Islands, began more than a year ago, when detecting alleged crimes that had the company Fitonovo as their central axis and then its subsidiary, Fitoverde. According to the Civil Guard in a statement, "from the analysis of the information seized in the entries and records and the operational activity of the investigators, it was found that the management of the company Fitonovo had created an infrastructure designed to obtain irregular public contracts, enabling the structure of the company to form a network of contacts with corrupt officials who facilitated said contracting, creating in turn a parallel accounting that was nourished by false invoicing to, among other purposes, pay bribes to officials and public officials."
In the statement, in which they do not give more details about the arrests, since the proceedings are under summary secrecy, the Civil Guard explains that "the illicit practices discovered caused serious damage to the public interest in a double aspect: perverting the award procedures and not performing the promised services." Likewise, "since the award was predetermined in advance based on particular interests and not the general interest, it harmed the rest of the companies that competed in the public contracting procedures."