The Provincial Court of Palma has endorsed the emergency procedure used by the Consell de Ibiza to contract in 2020 the tourist campaign “La Vida Islados”, in the context of the health crisis caused by COVID-19, and has reduced the judicial investigation to residual issues. The order is a turning point in a case that questioned the legality of that exceptional award.
The court considers the use of the emergency contract to be in accordance with the law, which leaves the main accusation that gave rise to the procedure out of the way. The initial complaint, filed anonymously with the Anti-Corruption Office of the Balearic Islands, focused on an alleged fraudulent use of this administrative mechanism.
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What is still under investigation
The Court agreed that the procedure should continue only to clarify part of the documentation subsequent to the awarding of the contract, as well as to analyze the evidence relating to alleged coercion denounced. On this point, the court partially upholds the appeals filed by the PSOE and María Antonia Tur.
The criterion of the Provincial Court coincides with that of the Court of Instruction number 4 of Ibiza and with the Prosecutor’s Office, which had already ruled in favor of the provisional file of the case. The examining magistrate had pointed out that the actions of the president of the Consell were supported by technical reports and decisions that could have been appealed, something that finally did not happen.
The origin of the case
The “La Vida Islados” case dates back to 2020, in the midst of the paralysis of tourism in Ibiza, when the island remained weeks without visitors and with its main economic engine stopped. The contracting of the campaign was framed in that emergency scenario, an extreme that is now endorsed by the Provincial Court.
Although the case is not definitively closed, the court order leaves the case without its original approach, by validating the legality of the contract that supported the investigation. The remainder of the proceeding is limited to specific and subsequent aspects, far from the initial focus of the complaint.
