Police test fraud case comes to court

The trial begins today in the First Section of the Provincial Court of the Balearic Islands, hearing evidence in the Examens case, which sees seven people in the dock, including former officials of the Palma Local Police, allegedly involved in the manipulation of test results to access to the municipal body in 2012.

The accused are 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.

According to the indictment, on December 30, 2012, the resolution calling for the competition to fill 14 Local Police officer positions was issued, which was published in the Official Gazette of the Balearic Islands in January 2012.

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

In this regard, the prosecutor maintains 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 would have taken advantage of his position and hierarchy and his influence over other officials. For their part, Vera and Estarellas allegedly used their functions and their intervention in the development of the tests.

Thus, the Prosecutor’s Office affirms that 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 would have provided the document with the seven questions and answers to Calvo.

The prosecutor’s brief states that on May 23, 2012, Calvo, around 12:00 p.m., summoned one of the agents also accused to the Local Police headquarters.

There, he allegedly sent by email seven of the ten questions of one of the tests with their respective answers to two of the agents participating, which was to be held six days later.

With this information in their possession, they both took the test and obtained a result that coincided with the score for the seven questions that had allegedly been provided to them.

The prosecutor maintains that 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.

On the other hand, the Public Ministry points to Vera for providing all the questions and answers of the exam to another person, of whom there is no evidence that he had previously arranged to obtain them. This person scored 24 points out of 24.

With these results, the indictment adds, the three favoured people managed to pass the tests.

The prosecutor also highlights that Estarellas, when a participant in the exam questioned him about the irregularities, refused any investigation and did not make any comments. Likewise, when he became aware of the notarial deed that attested to the leak, he did not take any action to investigate or annul the contest.

Finally, the Prosecutor’s Office indicates that the seventh defendant, an inspector of the Night Unit at that time, filed the various complaints and administrative files against another of the defendants.

The prosecutor considers the facts constituting crimes of revelation of secrets, continued prevarication and omission to pursue crimes.

For Calvo, for the crime of revealing secrets, he requests 18 months in prison and disqualification for a period of four years, and for the continued crime of prevarication, he requests eight years and six months of disqualification.

For Vera, for the crime of revealing secrets, 18 months in prison and disqualification for four years; for the continued crime of prevarication, eight and a half years of disqualification, and for the crime of omission to pursue crimes, 15 months of disqualification.

For Estarellas, for the crime of revealing secrets, 18 months in prison and disqualification for four years, and for the continued crime of prevarication, eight and a half years of disqualification.

For three other defendants, the prosecutor requests 18 months in prison and special disqualification from public office for four years for the crime of revealing secrets – for each one – and for the seventh defendant he requests 15 months of disqualification for the crime of failure to prosecute crimes.

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