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Prosecution seeking 28 years for Calvia police corruption accused

One of the searches at the time of arrests in 2014. | Archive

Majorca Daily Bulletin reporterPalma24/07/2020 14:21

The anti-corruption prosecution service is seeking sentences totalling 28 years for the six people accused in connection with alleged crimes related to the Calvia police force. Two of the six are former police chiefs - José Antonio Navarro of Calvia police and Antonio Ledesma of Marratxi police. The prosecution service will be requesting sentences of, respectively, six years and ten months; Navarro and Ledesma are both accused of bribery.

The prosecution's case centres on what was a kind of administrative office that Navarro and Ledesma are said to have operated for a period of seven years. This office, or agency, was in charge of personnel working for certain companies in the nightlife sector. Two businesspeople, who have also been accused, received favourable treatment. According to the prosecution, if there were fines for these businesspeople's establishments, these were either dropped or very small amounts were eventually paid. In addition, inspections were ordered which targeted competitors' establishments.

The prosecution has also identified two Calvia police officers who are accused of having planted cocaine in one particular establishment. A sniffer dog located this cocaine when there was an inspection. The prosecution maintains that this was intended to intimidate the owner of the establishment. After this owner denounced what had happened during a meeting at Calvia town hall, Navarro apparently declined to investigate.