The Socialist Federation of Ibiza (FSE-PSOE) has announced its intention to appeal the provisional dismissal of Vicent Marí in the case ‘La vida islados’, decreed by the Court of Instruction Number 4 of Ibiza. In a statement, the party has expressed its respect for judicial decisions, but has stressed that it does not share the case file, considering that there are “sufficient evidence” to continue with the procedure and clarify some facts that qualify as “serious”.
The PSOE seeks, with this appeal, that justice deepens in the actions related to the case and determine if there were responsibilities in the contracting of the advertising campaign during 2020.
The dismissal of Vicent Marí
The Court of Instruction Number 4 of Ibiza issued this Monday the provisional dismissal of the case after considering that the emergency contracting of the advertising campaign entitled La vida islados was legally justified by the tourist crisis derived from the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the judge, the use of the emergency contract was a “legally possible and defensible” option, as it was supported by the exceptional situation the island was experiencing at the time. The court order concludes that the president of the Consell, Vicent Marí, did not commit crimes of prevarication, influence peddling or coercion against the comptroller of the Consell, María Ana Tur Díaz. In addition, it points out that the witnesses with technical and legal capacity who testified in the case did not question the legality of the contracting. Vicent Marí always defended his innocence and described the complaint as a “PSOE set-up”, a statement that set the political tone of this process.
The ‘Life islados’ cause
The court case began in 2020, when the Consell de Ibiza awarded directly and urgently the production of a promotional video to the company Fuera de Escena Ibiza SL, with an approximate cost of 250,000 euros. The campaign sought to revitalize tourism in the midst of the crisis generated by the pandemic, but aroused suspicions of irregularities in its contracting. The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office initiated an investigation that included statements from several parties, among them the auditor María Ana Tur Díaz, who denounced having suffered harassment and coercion related to the process. These accusations led to the indictment of Vicent Marí, although the judge determined that there was insufficient evidence to continue with the case.
