The PP and Vox close the Bestard case: "They should publicly apologize to him"

PalmaThe Consell de Mallorca does not see "any notable relevance" in the private use of the island institution's cars by the vice president of Vox, Pedro Bestard. To reach this conclusion, it has been necessary to wait weeks, until the two reports commissioned by president Llorenç Galmés have been completed. The first was carried out by the Technical Secretariat of the Department of Environment and states that Bestard still keeps three cars for his exclusive use, that he lied about their signage and that he has made unjustified use of them unrelated to his position, in addition to keeping them to the detriment of the needs of the officials in his area. The second report was prepared by the General Secretariat and the Council's Intervention, and it is precisely this one that indicates that it cannot be deduced that the use of the cars is improper. This document is limited to recommending that an instruction be issued to regulate the use of the Council's vehicles.

The Transparency Commission that met this Wednesday was to vote on the opinion of the general secretary and the auditor, but El Pi, MÉS per Mallorca, and the PSOE refused. Thus, the PP and Vox settled this case on their own. "They should publicly apologize to Mr. Bestard," snapped the PP spokesperson, Núria Riera, in addition to expressing the popular party's "political support" for the vice president and pointing out that the left "is angry" because "they do not like the results" of the report from the General Secretariat and Intervention. "Mr. Bestard apologized," she argued, emphasizing that "there has been no political interference in the procedure" and calling the opposition "vulgar".

The island councilor for the Presidency, Antoni Fuster, chaired the commission and is the one who declared the case closed despite the opposition's requests to continue investigating what happened and to ask for a position from the Court of Accounts on this matter. In fact, the PSOE and MÉS do not rule out reporting Bestard for embezzlement.

"Mr. Bestard continues to have exclusive use of three cars. Will they tell me this does not violate the ethical code?", asked the spokesperson for MÉS per Mallorca, Catalina Inès Perelló. "We asked for his resignation on the first day and we continue to ask for it. There is embezzlement of public funds here", she added.

The spokesperson for the PSOE, Catalina Cladera, congratulated the technical secretary of the Environment "for her bravery". "She writes down the objective facts and left us with our hair standing on end. It is a devastating report", she continued. The socialist representative pointed out that "Galmés should have dismissed Bestard before the reports".

For El Pi, Antoni Salas regretted that the report from the General Secretariat and the Council's Intervention have relativized the facts presented by the document from the technical secretary of the Environment and underlined that Bestard "lied" when he appeared to give explanations about the case. "Mr. Bestard acted with malice when removing the signs. It is dangerous. For what reason did he do it? What is the problem with bringing a signed car to work?", he asked.

Regarding Vox, Antoni Gili spoke of a "vicious attack by the left" against the vice-president and mixed this case with Zapatero, the case of abuses of tutored minors and the parking of cars of island officials in SMAP car parks in the previous term".