The Secretary of State for Security, Rafael Pérez, has accused the Ministry of the Interior under the Government of Mariano Rajoy of having "covered up" the Cuarteles case by closing an investigation that would only be reopened two years later as soon as Pedro Sánchez arrived at La Moncloa. Pérez, who thus echoed the words of Minister Fernando Grande Marlaska, last Monday, also took advantage of his appearance before the Interior Commission of Congress to defend the former director of the Civil Guard, María Gámez.
The Secretary of State explained that the case arose in 2016 when there was knowledge of a series of dubious works in which the businessman Ángel Ramón Tejera always acted through three different companies with only one registered in the register of construction companies. . Some works, he has said, were invoiced twice and others had not been carried out.
Internal Affairs, in charge of the investigation, "detected important irregularities that pointed to Lieutenant General Vázquez Jarava." However, "surprisingly" Vázquez Jarava was allowed to issue a report asking that the case "not be referred to the prosecution." It was then, always according to Rafael Pérez's account, the general director of the Civil Guard, José Manuel Holgado Merino, "ordered the filing of the file" concluding that there was no reason to investigate the aforementioned works contracts. As a consequence of this, the then Minister of the Interior, Juan Ignacio Zoido, maintained his full confidence in Vázquez Jarava.
Two years later, in June 2018, "while the motion of censure" by Pedro Sánchez against Mariano Rajoy was being substantiated in Congress, Internal Affairs received an "anonymous communication" pointing out irregularities in the Ávila headquarters. The new Ministry of the Interior, already under Socialist command with Fernando Grande-Marlaska at the head, "reactivated the investigation and it was verified that it was nothing more than an extension of the case that had been paralyzed in the PP stage."
The conclusion, according to the Secretary of State, is that "the Cuarteles case began to be investigated in 2016 and was reactivated in 2018, despite the attempt to cover it up by the political leaders of the PP." "With the governments of the PP", Pérez assured, "investigations are closed and with the socialist government, they are reopened".
Rafael Pérez has avoided at all times delving into the links between the Cuarteles case and the Mediator case, the latter with derivatives in Congress itself through former socialist deputy Juan Bernardo Fuentes Curbelo, known as Tito Berni. This has given rise to the opposition parties to accuse the Secretary of State of trying to avoid this relationship because it affects the PSOE.
Pérez did take advantage of his appearance to make a plea in defense of the former director general of the Civil Guard, María Gámez, who recently resigned due to the accusation of her husband in a corruption case. The Secretary of State has attributed to her the determined impulse that has been given to the Civil Guard in recent years. For Pérez, María Gámez "is an example for everyone that can never be overshadowed by any falsehood disguised in ink and voiced by those who fear that the comparison will magnify her misery."
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