An anti-fraud operation has resulted in the arrest of a former director general of the Canary Islands Government and a retired Civil Guard general investigated for their alleged relationship with the crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, fraud and bribery, sources from Europa Press have informed the investigation.
Those detained for an alleged fraud in food product subsidies are Taishet Fuentes, who was General Director of Livestock of the Canary Islands Government until his dismissal last year, and retired General Francisco Javier Espinosa Navas, who was in charge of the Las Palms.
The aforementioned sources indicate that the alleged crimes that the detainees are charged with are limited to the years 2020 and 2021, when the retired general arrested this Tuesday was in charge of the GAR-SI Sahel project, in charge of training gendarmes in countries of West Africa and, therefore, without direct dependence on the organizational structure of the Civil Guard.
The operation has been carried out under the direction of the Investigating Court Number 4 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Internal Affairs agents of the Civil Guard, as well as the National Police, have participated in the operation.
The Government of the Canary Islands reported in June 2022 that Taishet Fuentes had been relieved of his position at the head of the General Directorate of Livestock due to "not having the confidence" of the Canarian president, Ángel Víctor Torres, to give a "new impetus" and "new orientation" at a time of crisis in the sector due to the war in Ukraine.
In addition to being the former General Director of Livestock, Taishet Fuentes had been designated a PSOE candidate for Mayor of Antigua (Fuerteventura). The arrest is due to his alleged relationship with irregularities in the management of subsidies linked to food products in various Spanish provinces, according to the regional newspaper Canarias7.
In addition, among the people investigated is Juan Bernardo Fuentes, a socialist deputy in Congress for the province of Las Palmas, who was general director of Livestock at the beginning of his term and was replaced in office by his nephew Taishet Fuentes.
As for Taishet Fuentes, also the nephew of the socialist deputy in the Canarian Parliament Domingo Fuentes Curbelo, he was dismissed as general director of Livestock in June 2022. The Government of the Canary Islands "denies any knowledge" about this operation, according to sources from the Executive autonomous.
Taishet Fuentes was appointed, a week ago, head of the PSOE list for the Mayor's Office of Antigua. Faced with this situation, the PSOE will hold a meeting on Thursday, February 16, to address this matter. However, the Socialists have advocated respecting the police action and investigation, as well as the presumption of innocence of Taishet Fuentes, asking for prudence when assessing the arrest until all the data is available.
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