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

PalmaThe Consell de Mallorca does not find "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 were 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 carried out 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 Council vehicles.

The Transparency Commission that met this Wednesday was to vote on the opinion of the general secretary and the accountant, 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 "political support" of the popular party 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, she wanted to emphasize that "there has been no political interference in the procedure" and she described the opposition as "crude."

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

"Mr. Bestard continues to have exclusive use of three cars. Will they tell me that this does not violate the code of ethics?", 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 resources here", she added.

The spokesperson for the PSOE, Catalina Cladera, congratulated the technical secretary of 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".

On behalf of El Pi, Antoni Salas lamented 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 Environment and stressed that Bestard "lied" when he appeared to give explanations about the case. "Mr. Bestard acted sneakily when he ordered the signs to be removed. It is dangerous. For what reason did he do it? What is the problem with bringing a signed car to work?", he asked.

As for 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".