Cladera demands that Galmés dismiss Bestard after the Prosecutor's Office lawsuit

PalmaThe PSIB spokesperson at the Council of Mallorca, Catalina Cladera, demanded this Sunday that the president of the institution, Llorenç Galmés, dismiss the second vice president, Pedro Bestard (Vox), after the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Balearic Islands decided to file a complaint regarding the case of the use of official vehicles of the Council.

The Public Ministry made the decision after investigating the complaint filed by the Socialist Group in July. The PSIB considers that the facts could constitute continued embezzlement of public funds, prevarication, and document forgery. The complaint must now be assigned to a court for the judicial investigation to continue.

"He cannot remain even one more day as a senior official of the Council of Mallorca," argued Cladera, who believes that the Prosecutor's Office's decision forces Galmés to act. The socialist also called on the President of the Government, Marga Prohens, to intervene politically if the president of the Council keeps Bestard in the position.

The controversy began last May following reports on the use of public vehicles assigned to the department directed by Bestard. Internal reports subsequently commissioned by the Council concluded that the vice president had exclusively used three vehicles without evidence that he had them assigned in that capacity. The same reports qualified this action as "inappropriate," but noted that it could not be categorically determined that there had been misuse. Galmés ruled out adopting measures against his vice president at the time, and the Council approved an internal instruction to regulate the use of official vehicles.

Bestard, for his part, had denied having made private use of the cars and had defended that the trips were linked to his institutional activity.

Cladera has also linked the case to the recent electoral agreement between the PP and Vox for the Senate. Vox has renounced presenting its own candidacy in the four constituencies of the Balearic Islands, and in Mallorca, the PP has incorporated a candidate proposed by those of Santiago Abascal into its list. "The PP prefers to make pacts with the corruption of Vox rather than fight it, both in Mallorca and in the whole of the State," affirmed the socialist candidate for the Senate, a political accusation she used to call again for the departure of Bestard from the insular government.

The Public Prosecutor's Office has not yet determined any criminal responsibility for Bestard. The filing of the complaint opens the way for the facts to be investigated judicially.