Senior Guardia Civil officer convicted over barracks bribery case

A Madrid court has convicted a senior Guardia Civil officer and a businessman of bribery over a network of barracks renovation contracts that included work at the Algeciras command post in Cádiz.

The Sección Segunda of the Audiencia Provincial of Madrid ruled that the officer, identified as Pedro V. J., took cash, trips and other benefits from the contractor after helping promote his companies for works at several Guardia Civil units.

The sentence imposes one year in prison on both men. It also gives Pedro V. J. three years’ suspension from public office and disqualifies the businessman’s companies from public contracts and subsidies for nine years.

Benefits included cash and trips

The court said the benefits proved in the case included at least one trip to Milan to attend the Champions League final, hotel stays in Cádiz, a pool cover for the officer’s home and further travel linked to the same contractor.

It also said the officer received cash payments in several instalments in November 2016, which were later deposited into his bank accounts.

The ruling says the contracting effort covered command posts in Algeciras, Alicante, Ávila, Castellón, Jaén and Santa Cruz de Tenerife, as well as the Murcia area and the Guardia Civil’s economic affairs headquarters.

Case is not yet final

The court found that the officer used his post as deputy director general of support for the Guardia Civil in 2016 and 2017 to contact different units and encourage them to carry out improvement works using sprayed cork as a solution for damp problems.

According to the judgment, the contractor’s firms then won the jobs and billed just over €1.38 million in November and December 2016 for work carried out for the force.

The sentence is not final and can still be appealed to the Madrid High Court of Justice.