The Ministry commissions a legal study in the face of possible irregularities by the director of the ICA, who intervened in the request of his former foundation
The Ministry of Culture gave this Wednesday a turn in its position on the legality of the procedure initiated by the general director of the Institute of Cultural Industries and the Arts (ICA), Manuel Cebrián, for the possible assignment of the use of the Casa del Niño de Cartagena for 25 years to the private foundation for which he worked until February. As compensation, this entity would invest 350,000 euros in renovating a part of this building, cataloged as an Asset of Cultural Interest (BIC) and in making it a museum to carry out activities for children related to marine sciences.
The department headed by Marcos Ortuño (and which includes the areas of Presidency, Tourism and Sports in the Executive of Fernando López Miras) went on to defend on Tuesday that Cebrián acted well because “his employment relationship with the foundation ceased” when he arrived at the Community to announce that it will review the legality of the administrative file.
This decision came in the face of doubts about the apparent violation of the Law on the Regional Statute of Political Activity by Cebrián, by not having refrained from intervening in the file due to professional and family ties with an entity called the Free Intelligence Institute, whose headquarters is in Torre Pacheco. There are also growing accusations of economic “pitch” and favorable treatment of the regional government and the PP by different political parties, including MC, PSOE and Vox.
Sources from the Ministry informed LA VERDAD that the General Secretariat of the Ministry has requested the legal advice of the ICA “to review the procedure by which the public presentation of the request for the transfer of use of a part of the property begins. Children’s House of Cartagena. “The objective of this measure is to review the file and issue a detailed report on the processing followed for this purpose, as well as the validity or invalidity of the actions carried out to date,” they added. And they specified that the report “will be submitted to the Legal Services of the General Secretariat of the Ministry.”
In any case, in the department of Marcos Ortuño they pointed out that the announcement published by the ICA this Tuesday in the Official Gazette of the Region of Murcia (BORM), and that it is signed by Manuel Cebrián, is only “the first and only administrative procedure related to the study of that request. And they warned that the “route” of the proposal made by the foundation linked to this high position “in any case would require the contribution of another series of reports, before any progress for its eventual approval.”
As this newspaper published on Tuesday, this rule obliges all public officials to “refrain from intervening, during their mandate, in all those matters that they would have managed, directed or advised in their previous private activity.” The norm includes this forced inhibition to topics “that directly or indirectly interest him or his relatives, by blood or affinity, up to the second degree, or to companies in which he or his relatives had participation, or interests, or had advised or advise”.
From 2013 until joining the regional government this year, Cebrián was director of Innovation Programs at an entity called the Free Intelligence Institute. And, as it appeared until Tuesday on the website of this private foundation (which was not accessible yesterday due to “reform” tasks), his wife leads the area of Academic Management and International Relations.
The political darts have been directed at the PP, which manages Culture. However, Cebrián (who also held the position of project director of the Torre Pacheco Municipal Institute of Services for Social Action) agreed to the position after a proposal from the regional deputies expelled by Vox Juan José Liarte and Francisco Carrera. It happened after the conflict with the counselor Mabel Campuzano, before her attempt to dismiss the director of the ICA. The clash ended with the transfer of the powers of Culture to the department of the popular Ortuño.
Cebrián kept silent on Wednesday about his management, which raises questions such as why Culture did not convene a process for presenting proposals and if the counselor knew the movements of the director of the ICA. According to the Ministry, the foundation, an entity “with no intention of profit”, has not considered asking for public aid. But from the entity they have publicly affirmed that they would use “subsidies from all administrations.”
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