Police exam fraud case reaches court

The First Section of the Provincial Court of the Balearic Islands holds the pre-trial hearing on Tuesday (1:00 p.m.) for the case known as the Exámenes case, in which seven people are accused, including former prosecutors and officials of the Palma Local Police, of altering the result of a competitive examination for the municipal body.

On the bench sit those who at that time held the positions of general director of Citizen Security, Enrique Calvo; the chief mayor of the Palma Local Police, Antonio Vera; the chief commissioner of the Operational and Security Police Station, Rafael Estarellas, and four other officials of the Local Police.

As the indictment recalls, on December 30, 2012, a resolution was issued by the Public Function area of ​​the Palma City Council that agreed to the call for the competition to fill 14 officer positions in the Palma Local Police. This resolution was published in the Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands on January 10, 2012.

This call, in its opposition part, had several tests, including one of physical-medical aptitude, another complementary professional consisting of 80 multiple choice questions on 30 selected topics, a professional test consisting of developing in writing ten questions on 30 related topics and a last psychotechnical test.

In this regard, the prosecutor indicates that at the beginning of 2012, Calvo, Vera and Estarellas decided by mutual agreement to fraudulently alter the result of the competition so that certain agents who were going to participate in the tests would benefit.

To do this, the accusation adds, Calvo took advantage of his position and hierarchy and his influence over other officials. For their part, Vera and Estarellas used their functions and their intervention in the development of the tests, since this gave them mastery and knowledge of the content of the aforementioned access tests.

Thus, the last two, who were part of the Court that was to judge the competition, proceeded to prepare seven of the ten questions of the professional test, specifying the correct answers. Next, they provided the document with the seven questions and answers to Calvo.

On May 23, 2012, Calvo, around 12:00 p.m., summoned one of the agents also accused to the Local Police headquarters. There, as agreed between the rest of the defendants, by email he sent seven of the ten questions of the third test with their respective answers to two of the agents who participated in the opposition, which was going to take place six days later.

Calvo’s email, according to the document, was sent to one of the agents with two attached documents. The same message was forwarded the same day to the email to the other two agents involved in this case.

With the questions and answers in their possession, two agents took the test and obtained a result that coincided with the score for the seven questions that had allegedly been provided to them.

All of this was due to a previous plan to favour the police officers who participated in the plot. Thus, after facilitating the exams, two agents would be promoted and these would make it possible for a third to acquire a permanent position as a civil servant.

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