He does not rule out imputing him as a cooperator and opposes subjecting the City Council to a prospective investigation to see if any official was an accomplice or necessary cooperator
Judge Adolfo Carretero has rejected the request of the Malaysian businessman San Chin Choon to appear in the case that investigates an alleged fraud against the Madrid City Council through videoconference from the Spanish embassy in Malaysia due to the lack of international procedural guarantees and legality.
In an order, to which Europa Press had access, the magistrate denied the supplier’s request to testify from the embassy, without prejudice to “practice if he voluntarily appears before this court.”
The testimony of this businessman is key in the investigation as he is the supplier of the sanitary material that Luis Medina and Alberto Luceño sold to the Consistory for almost 11 million euros, of which six million ended up in the hands of the commission agents. The investigated declared that they were exclusive agents of Leno, the company of San Chin Choon.
Likewise, the instructor agrees to issue an official letter to the Logistics and Public Acts Service of the Madrid City Council, so that it delivers a sufficient number of masks that were acquired from Leno so that the certification entity Aenor can carry out an analysis of their quality.
The judge also rejects evidence requested by the PSOE and the Municipal Socialist Group in relation to the intervention of emails of the then head of Purchases and current coordinator of Budgets and Human Resources of the Madrid City Council Elena Collado.
He opposes investigating the City Council
With regard to these proceedings, he insists that the crimes being investigated are an aggravated fraud against the Madrid City Council and the Municipal Funeral Home, in competition with false documents, money laundering and concealment of assets imputed to the investigated Luis Medina and Alberto Luceño.
He emphasizes that the City Council and the Municipal Funeral Home have the status of injured parties, and “no official of the City Council or Political Manager of the same has been charged so far, the Provincial Court dismissing several appeals against their accusation, even against that of people outside the City Council , who wanted to be accused of influence peddling in reference to Carlos Martínez Almeida.
“They do not have to be the subject of proceedings as if they were accused, in a kind of prospective investigation to see if any official or manager of the City Council was an accomplice or necessary collaborator in the scam, or had committed an embezzlement of fraudulent public funds, because as This Instructor has already said in other resolutions, reckless embezzlement is decriminalized”, he asserts.
As the prosecutor maintains, he underlines that “the mismanagement of this matter in the execution of these contracts, without a doubt, may have a great political interest, and even generate some political responsibility, but this is alien to the criminal process, without prejudice to that the injured parties have already provided, in the opinion of this instruction, the essential documentation required.
Therefore, he insists that “no further documentation is necessary to prove the deception that the Madrid City Council has suffered as a result of the sale of medical supplies at an exorbitant price at the height of the Covid pandemic.”
Possible imputation
Regarding the videoconference, he points out that there are reasons of “legal certainty and international legality that the prosecutor exposes in his brief, for not admitting that the alleged San Chin Choon testifies through videoconference at the Embassy of Spain in Kuala Lumpur”.
He recalls that “there is no international treaty with Malaysia for this, nor is there reciprocity with this country”, indicating that “international agreements only contemplate this possibility in civil and commercial matters, being an irregular test.”
It then goes on to state that “a possible imputation of the witness, as a necessary collaborator in the scam, would not be ruled out either”, as Podemos already requests, for which it emphasizes that “the most absolute immediacy is required, so that it can be perfectly identified by the Police Spanish and respond to the parties and the Public Prosecutor and this instructor with official Chinese interpreters recognized by the Community of Madrid so that their answers are clear.
“This instructor does not understand that the alleged San Chin Choon does not want to collaborate with the Justice at first, then send emails on different dates, starting at the end of July 2022 and now wants to testify by videoconference, when the trial is advanced. instruction and can know the statements of those investigated and witnesses, “says the judge in the order.
Nor does he understand the professional reasons he gives for not coming to Spain on a set date, “especially when he says he is a solvent businessman.”
The judge underlines that “a videoconference cannot be admitted not only due to the lack of international procedural guarantees and legality, but also because his testimony harbors numerous doubts that must be clarified.”
It emphasizes that it is possible that the aforementioned witness could be imputed at any time during his statement as a necessary collaborator or accomplice of those investigated in the crime of fraud, “making it difficult the remoteness of Malaysia and the lack of treaties and reciprocity with this country in future communications with the witness if he were charged.
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