The Provincial Court of Palma has acquitted the former Minister of Tourism Carlos Delgado and five other people accused of irregularities in the awarding of the Calanova marina in 2013. According to the ruling, the judges consider that the evidence presented during the trial does not accredit the accusations of prevarication or influence peddling, maintaining the presumption of innocence of the accused. The ruling also exempts from criminal liability the company Port Olímpic, awarded the concession, whose administrator at the time, Carlos Gelabert, has also been acquitted. The court did not consider it proven that there was a remarkable friendship relationship between Gelabert and Delgado that could have influenced the awarding of the concession.
Lack of evidence and presumption of innocence
The trial, which lasted two weeks, did not provide conclusive evidence to confirm the alleged irregularities in the awarding process. In its resolution, the court points out that “the conduct of the defendants does not fit the crimes charged” and rules out that Delgado and the former secretary general of Tourism, Joaquín Legaza, had exerted pressure to benefit Port Olímpic. The judges have also dismissed the credibility of the key witness presented by the accusations, whose statement they considered inconsistent. They also found no evidence that Delgado and Legaza had a “special interest” in modifying the clauses of the tender to favor the winning company.
Indictments and penalties requested
The anti-corruption prosecutor Juan Carrau asked for a sentence of one year and nine months in prison for Delgado, in addition to a fine of 1.1 million euros, while the regional attorney’s office requested two years in prison and a fine of 1.46 million euros. The same penalties were applied to the rest of the defendants, which included businessmen and lawyers linked to the concession. However, the court has pointed out that it is not up to it to decide on the interpretation of the bases of the tender, given that the legal discrepancies between the boards of directors do not prove the existence of a crime.
Appealable judgment
Although the ruling acquits the six defendants and rules out the existence of an “unfair resolution” in the process, the sentence is not yet final and can be appealed before the High Court of Justice of the Balearic Islands (TSJIB). The resolution represents a setback for the accusations, which argued that the award of the port of Calanova had been manipulated through influence peddling and concealment of reports during the bidding process.
