Carmena councilors accused in the ‘Open de Madrid’ case were acquitted

The Court of Madrid acquitted former councilors Celia Mayer and Carlos Sánchez Matopart of the municipal group of Manuela Carmena, and former Madrid leader Destino Ana Varela of crimes of prevarication and embezzlement in the so -called ‘Madrid Tennis Open case’.

The court not only exempts them from criminal liability but condemned the accusation brought by the Popular Municipal Group of the Consistory to pay the costs for the act of “reckless” and “bad faith”for example by maintaining the accusation against Mayer “without any particular accusatory” and knowing that when the events occurred he was on leave.

The PP and the Transparency and Justice association, associated with former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, they sued in 2017 against the three for commissioning “by finger” and “without publicity” of two law firms to investigate possible irregularities on Open Tennis contracts during the Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón municipal government.

“It has not been proven that the defendants, in the exercise of their powers and responsibilities, had any other intention than to protect and safeguard the interests and coffers of the municipality.“, indicates the seventh section in a sentence that can be appealed.

At trial, the Madrid Prosecutor’s Office also found no evidence of a crime and requested acquittal.

The resolution explains the beginning of the case, when Ana Varela, CEO of Madrid Destino, began to suspect about the legality of promises and obligations which this public company assumes in previous agreements signed for the organization and celebration of the ‘Mutua Madrid Open’ tennis tournament.

Agreements in which the Consistory had to deal with significant economic paymentsso that, after initial consultation with the experts and legal advice of the City Council, he requested various external legal reports, as did Carlos Sánchez Mato, as acting president of Madrid Destino and later as Delegate of the Economy and Treasury of the City Council in connection with several agreements signed by the previous corporation.

The reports were commissioned from two law firms, in the amount of 50,000 euros, on contracts signed previously between the said public company and the mercantile Madrid Trophy Promotion. They did so without the knowledge of the then mayor, Manuela Carmena, who later considered it “a mistake.”

Payment with municipal money of these reports is the purpose of the Popular Municipal Group complaint, despite the fact that, according to the Chamber, “is aware of the lack of consistency of the facts criticized from the pervasive point of view“.

More importantly, he goes on, after issuing three reports of outsourced legal services, “which are very good at speaking of, at least, the salient legal and economic differences arising from the agreements and agreements signed in previous years, and by the detrimental entity. consequences they may obtain for the coffers of the municipality as warned in such legal reports “.

After reviewing the questionable legal reports, the three accused filed a complaint on March 23, 2017 for administrative prevarication and embezzlement before the Prosecutor’s Office, which resulted in the filing of a judge.

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“Thank you for supporting @CeliaMayerD, Ana Varela and me. This time the corrupt did not win”, Sánchez Mato stated on Twitter, in which he referred to the“ vicious persecution of PP and Villarejo ”against them.