Pascual Maragall insinuated in a parliamentary debate that the Government of Jordi Pujol and the formation that supported it, Convergencia i Unió (CiU), had been taking three percent of the amount invested in works in Catalonia. The issue, being serious, ended in little more than a dialectical spat. Neither the Catalan Prosecutor's Office acted ex officio nor did anyone request it, after some timid apologies. A similar case has occurred in Lanzarote, which, although more local, is no less important. A citizen of Femés named Victor Julián Cáceres commented on the program Buenos Días Lanzarote de Radio Lanzarote that he had evidence that showed that there were several people who had been taking not three, but seven percent of the works that have been executed in recent years through the Cabildo. Unlike in Catalonia, the Arrecife Prosecutor's Office has acted ex officio and has summoned the neighbor to testify, who will have to appear today at one o'clock in the afternoon. But that is not all; here, in addition, this situation has caused a confrontation between two politicians, the Councilor for Public Works of the Cabildo, Sergio Machín, and the spokesperson for Alternativa Ciudadana (AC-25M) in the First Island Corporation, Pedro Hernández, which almost certainly will end up in the courts of justice.
After the complaint of Victor Julián Cáceres, who did not name anyone in his radio statements, although he spoke forcefully enough, the spokesperson for Alternativa took the opportunity to bring up the controversial issue in the last plenary session held in the Cabildo, demanding that the Councilor for Public Works give the appropriate explanations, which generated his anger as he did not understand why the politician involved him in a corruption issue when the resident of Femés had not even named him.
But the matter has greater depth. Pedro Hernández assured this Monday on Radio Lanzarote that Sergio Machín threatened him when he was going down the stairs of the Cabildo after leaving the plenary session, which he brought to the attention of the rest of the members of the government group. "All I did was ask if the Cabildo had initiated any type of action regarding the statements of Victor Julián Cáceres on Radio Lanzarote. The Councilor for Public Works, Sergio Machín, became agitated and told me that he was going to tell me outside, within a veiled threat that had to be called to order by the one who was then acting as president, Manuel Fajardo," he narrated, adding that "at the end of the plenary session this man came after me and threatened me." The worst thing for him, who defends this version of the events tooth and nail, is that there are no witnesses to what happened. Given the seriousness of the matter, he called the first vice president of the First Corporation and two other representatives of the government group to take note of the matter. "It would be very interesting to clarify this situation. If some people are getting nervous, let them solve their nerve problems, because we are going to continue doing what the Constitution allows us to do, such as controlling and overseeing the Government," he explained emphatically.
In his opinion, the nervousness of the councilor has to do with his complaint about the constant awarding to the same company of all the works carried out by the First Island Corporation, a fact that he said he clearly warned about in the last plenary session, trying to show how important it is to have clear the "principle of distribution" that, in his opinion, is not being fulfilled.
Similarly, he clarified that for the moment he has not been called to testify on this matter, despite the fact that he was the one who aired it politically and put a face to it.
Machín's version
The version of the matter offered by Sergio Machín is little or nothing similar. "What Mr. Pedro is doing is something separate that has already been brought to the attention of the Prosecutor's Office and the courts personally. One thing is the statements of the resident of Femés and another is the question that Mr. Pedro asks in the plenary session saying that this man had named me in the issue of commissions, when it is not true," he explained in detail. He also pointed out that what the spokesperson for Alternativa has done is to rely on the statements of a third person to involve another who had nothing to do with the matter. "The people of Lanzarote are clear about their things, and I am going to continue giving this man respectful answers as I have always done," he commented again, denying that he had ever threatened him after the plenary session.
The Councilor for Public Works of the Cabildo also guaranteed on the same radio program that the appearance of Victor Julián Cáceres in the Prosecutor's Office has nothing to do with him because he, he insisted, "did not name me at any time." However, he clarified that the Cabildo will go to court "because as an institution it has the responsibility to defend its technicians, since when statements of this type are made, one must have more prudence and evidence". "When you have evidence that something like this may be happening, it is good to report it, because what you cannot do is sow doubt without more," he stressed.
