The judge investigating the Mediator case has requested authorization from the Congress of Deputies so that the Police can seize all the material of former socialist parliamentarian Juan Bernardo Fuentes Curbelo, known as Tito Berni and whom the magistrate describes as "leader of the policy of the criminal organization".
This is stated in an order notified this Monday in which the judge transferred directly to the president of the Chamber the request that the Technological Crimes Group that was in charge of the investigation had presented to her. The resolution asks Meritxell Batet to "provide authorization and collaboration so that the Technical Secretariat delivers to the National Police, Technological Crimes Group the effects deposited inside the office of the Congress of Deputies assigned to the investigated Juan Bernardo Fuentes Curbelo for perform their parliamentary duties. Thus, the judge foresees that it is the Chamber itself that delivers the material to the Security Forces.
The request comes after the investigators consulted the Special Commissioner of the Congress of Deputies -which is based in the Chamber itself- about the effects that could still exist in the former deputy's office. The response was "that, indeed, in the aforementioned office there is various documentation and personal effects, as well as a desktop computer owned by Congress."
The magistrate has agreed to address the president of Congress directly, in the face of the interpretation of sources from the Supreme Court and from the Lower House itself that a request of this type should come from the High Court and not from the investigative court of Tenerife. Judge María de los Ángeles Zabala acts like this after remembering that Fuentes Curbelo left the seat and, with this, lost the appraisal that prevented an ordinary court from investigating him.
The judge indicates that "in the event that the presidency of Congress collaborates by delivering said devices", the police interest is exhaustive: it reaches "the instruments of telephone communication, telematics and devices for mass storage of digital information, the telematic repositories of data, the cloud, emails and social networks, as well as documentation, personal notes, invoices, accounting books in physical and digital format, extract minutes, files, registry and notarial documents, tax documents, postal and electronic correspondence, stamps and any other support that could be related to the facts investigated, including falsified documentation, supplies and other tools to carry out the crimes investigated".
The order confirms that the former Canarian deputy is being investigated for possible crimes of bribery, influence peddling, document forgery and belonging to a criminal organization. According to the judge, there are "relevant indications" of the participation of Fuentes Curbelo in criminal activity.
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