"Mediador" Trial: Espinosa's Key Witnesses Dropped Amid Illness Claims

Key witnesses for retired Civil Guard Major General Francisco Espinosa will not appear in the first part of the "Mediador" corruption case. Businessman Eustasio López, Lopesan executive and former rally driver Luis Monzón, and businessman Miguel Ángel Ramírez (who is also president of UD Las Palmas football club) have all claimed illness.

The judge, Emilio Moreno, who is overseeing this jury trial at the Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, informed the court of these absences. As a result, Espinosa's lawyer, along with the defense teams for the two other co-accused—businessman Antonio Bautista and Marco Antonio Navarro Tacoronte (known as 'the mediator')—and Anti-Corruption Prosecutor Jaime Serrano Jover, all agreed to drop these witnesses.

The Provincial Court of Santa Cruz de Tenerife held its third hearing on Monday for this section of the "Mediador" case. The trial is looking into an alleged corruption scheme where bribes and fees were paid to help Valencian businessman Antonio Bautista, who works in renewable energy, expand his business in the Canary Islands. This was supposedly done through the "powerful contacts" of Civil Guard Major General Francisco Espinosa Navas (who used to lead the Las Palmas command), with Marco Antonio Navarro Tacoronte acting as the go-between for Espinosa, Bautista, and others.

The first witness to testify on Monday was a woman who had an affair with General Espinosa. She asked for protection from being recorded or photographed by the press. She admitted traveling with Espinosa to Fuerteventura because he told her he would introduce her to a businessman who had a job offer. According to her testimony, businessman Antonio Bautista met her for coffee and dinner to explain the project. She also admitted that she "demanded to be paid 3,000 euros monthly" for her sales efforts – 400 euros more than Bautista said he earned himself.

The witness confirmed she was friends with Miguel Ángel Ramírez, and this friendship led to her introduction to Bautista's project. She stated she had sales experience from owning a clothing store but knew nothing about solar panels, only a little about air conditioners. When the prosecutor asked how she could ask for a 3,000-euro salary with no knowledge of the sector, she replied, "it wasn't about selling small solar panels door-to-door; these were projects I was going to present to large companies, and I asked for the documentation to study it."

She said she never met with Eustaquio López, Luis Monzón, or anyone from the Lopesan Group to discuss this matter, partly because she doesn't know them personally.

She stated that she quit the position when "Bautista said what he wanted was an engineer, and that wasn't my profile."

The "Mediador" case began in early 2023 after Navarro Tacoronte voluntarily gave two mobile phones to the National Police. These phones contained recordings that suggested a possible corruption scheme. Navarro Tacoronte had been arrested for alleged fraud after Ángel Luis Pérez Peña, the former sports director for Tenerife, accused him of stealing a credit card.

The Civil Guard captain who led the internal investigation testified last Friday. He stated that General Francisco Espinosa Navas was still on duty in mid to late 2020 when he offered his "powerful contacts" to businessman Antonio Bautista and Marco Antonio Navarro Tacoronte. Not only was he active, but the captain asserted, "He was the sixth highest-ranking officer in the Civil Guard."

The investigator explained that until his retirement in January 2021, Espinosa carried out all his activities within his official and public service roles. During that time, he kept his official perks, including an office at the Civil Guard headquarters, a car with a driver, a work email, housing provided by the Civil Guard, and he wore his Major General's uniform to official events.

The relationship between Bautista and the other co-accused started in July 2020. Within two months, records show two transfers totaling 5,000 euros from the businessman to the mediator. On September 14 of that year, the three met at a restaurant in Madrid, where the businessman paid a 409-euro bill by card, despite having withdrawn 3,000 euros from an ATM two days earlier.

Investigators called these meetings part of a "greasing phase," which the witness said is common in such crimes, where gifts and payments gradually increase. In this context, Espinosa allegedly connected Bautista with other businessmen he knew from his time stationed in Las Palmas.

A significant event was a trip to Fuerteventura in November 2020, fully paid for by the businessman under the pretense of a conference that never happened. The investigator said Bautista was unhappy about the nearly 3,000-euro cost.

The relationship between the businessman and the former general was described as clearly hierarchical. "It was not a relationship between equals," the witness stated, adding that while Bautista occasionally disagreed, he ultimately accepted the demands.

The investigation suggests the businessman made up to ten payments, totaling 19,500 euros. This amount matches some of the cash later found at Espinosa's home, where 61,000 euros were discovered hidden in shoe boxes and clothes.

The investigator noted that finding cash like this was unusual, especially since the former general had almost 300,000 euros in bank accounts. He explained that the 19,500 euros matched the difference between the recorded "cash" and the money found during the search.

During the hearing, the defense lawyers presented different stories. Bautista's lawyer claimed his client meticulously tracked payments, never gave money directly to the general, and paid for meals with company cards. Espinosa's defense admitted he had an overseas account but said it was closed before the investigation became public. The mediator's lawyer, however, stated that his client only collected money from the businessman and passed it to the general during their meetings, denying any shared funds or cards.