The Socialists circumscribe the irregularities to former deputy Juan Bernardo Fuentes
They give credibility to the fact that some deputies have dined with their former partner and to the fact that there are images, but they suggest that this would be within the normal range and that they would act if it went further
Tito Berni denies “having managed anything” in the Mediator case: “I am the victim”
The Mediator case has had an impact on the PSOE and is a source of concern. “It is a shame and of course it does us no good,” acknowledge sources at the top of the party and the Government. On the one hand, in the socialist ranks, they believe that their response by expelling Juan Bernardo Fuentes from the party and from the seat creates a security cordon around the party. But at the same time the trickle of images and information about the plot is worrying. Although ultimately they believe that the former socialist deputy, “more than a mediator, he was a fraudster,” they say in Ferraz.

The number two of the PSOE, María Jesús Montero, has indicated this morning that the issue has been dealt with at the meeting of the Federal Executive of the PSOE held this Monday. The strong message is to highlight the “promptness” in the reaction: “He was demanded to deliver the minutes and he was expelled from the party. He again manifests zero tolerance for corruption ».

Questioned if the party contemplates that some other parliamentarian is involved in the plot, party sources are sure that it is a case limited exclusively to Fuentes. Although different is that it can be proven that some deputies shared a dinner with him. At the gates of the elections, the fear of wear is high. The majority of the Pact of Flowers in the Canary Islands that maintains Ángel Víctor Torres in the presidency, is maintained by one seat. The issue is worrisome and in the direction of the PSOE the deputies have been asked to “extreme precautions” regarding the type of people with whom they interact.
Ferraz’s point here is clear: if it is simply a dinner with someone who was a fellow bench member, there can be no problem. It is given veracity that this has happened in one of the central places of the capital that the deputies who are not from Madrid frequent the plenary weeks. It would be different if from these images it was deduced that they are in a hostess club or similar. That would already be enough to act against them, as explained in Ferraz.

The deputy secretary general of the PSOE and Minister of Finance has indicated that, at any indication that another party position is involved in a case of corruption, she “is going to act with the same serenity as with this man.” The PSOE tries to turn this issue around by pointing out “the different attitude” of the PP. And here is the case of the mayoress of Marbella or the unresolved file that was opened to the former Minister of the Interior, Jorge Fernández Díaz. «When the PSOE has knowledge from any source that a representative is involved in a plot. We are going to act with absolute forcefulness. We will do it with this man as we would do with any other,” Montero insisted.