Bestard denies having harassed the technician who documented the inappropriate use of official cars

PalmaThe dismissal of Magdalena Ribot Font as technical secretary of the Department of Environment, Rural Environment and Sports of the Council of Mallorca has caused a moment of tension in the plenary session of the island institution. Ribot is the author of the report on the use of official vehicles by the second vice-president of the institution, Pedro Bestard (Vox), which is the subject of an investigation by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office.

Although at first the first vice-president Antònia Roca wanted to pass very quickly over this point, the socialist spokesperson Catalina Cladera asked for explanations regarding the dismissal and asked if it was the result of having received pressure from Bestard after having drawn up the report. However, Bestard has denied having dismissed her: “No one has dismissed her; she resigned”, he claimed. He also flatly rejected the accusations of harassment and threats: “There is no person who has seen or any document that says that I have harassed or threatened her”, he said, and maintained that he had not spoken to her since May.

The report from the technical secretary pointed out that Bestard had three Council vehicles at his exclusive disposal while 19 cars from the department were unused. The document indicated that some vehicles had been acquired to renew the fleet and provide service to the brigades, but had remained reserved for the councilor. It also recorded fuel supplies on Sundays and outside working hours that could not be clearly linked to official acts. Ribot left her position at the Council and was appointed on October 16 as managing director of the Blood and Tissue Bank Foundation of the Balearic Islands.

Roca does not let Bestard respond

At another point in the plenary session, the socialist councillor Catalina Cladera had to ask the President of the Council, Llorenç Galmés: “Why do you not dismiss Mr. Bestard?”. The question referred to the vice-president's continuity following the lawsuit by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office over the use of official vehicles.

The nervousness caused within the government of the island institution by the investigation into the second vice-president was also made manifest by the question from the socialist spokesperson, Catalina Cladera, regarding Bestard's continuity in the position. Antònia Roca was leading the session in the absence of the President of the Council, Llorenç Galmés, who had to leave “for family reasons”. Faced with the president's absence, the socialist spokesperson asked for Bestard himself to answer, but the first vice-president did not allow it and argued that it was up to the island government to decide who would respond. Faced with Roca's refusal to allow the island councillor for the Environment and second vice-president, Pedro Bestard, to intervene on this point, she urged Cladera to withdraw the question, which she ended up doing. Before doing so, the socialist reproached Roca for not letting the second vice-president and head of the Environment respond and questioned whether the Council was “afraid to hide” Bestard.

Bestard, in the spotlight

Cladera's question comes after the Balearic Islands Public Prosecutor's Office agreed to file a complaint against Bestard following a complaint from the PSIB, which attributes to him alleged private trips using official vehicles and considers that the facts could constitute continuous embezzlement, malfeasance, and document forgery. Faced with the accusations, Bestard has denied having made irregular use of the cars. The complaint has also brought to light the vice president's distancing from Vox's executive branch: while the party has asked for his presumption of innocence to be respected, sources within the party have expressed dissatisfaction with his management at the Council, as reported by ARA Balears.