Compiled with the help of artificial intelligence, based on Spanish-language information. Source below the article.
Campaigners representing people affected by the 2023 recruitment exams for 141 Canary Islands Police officers have taken their case to the regional Parliament, alleging that the selection process breached the fundamental principles governing access to public employment: equality, merit, ability and transparency.
Institutional meeting with Socialist MP
Ángeles Padilla, the lawyer representing the platform, held an institutional meeting on Friday with Socialist MP Nayra Alemán. According to a press release issued by the group, those affected set out during the meeting the irregularities which, in their view, undermined the selection process launched in 2023.
The platform asked the Socialist Group to examine the documentation it has provided and to back parliamentary initiatives aimed at establishing whether any actions contrary to the law took place.
Case already before the courts
As Canarias Ahora has been reporting, the exams are now the subject of judicial proceedings at an investigating court in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. So far, two people have been summoned to testify as investigated parties: the president of the examining board, Ángel Nichel Acosta, and the senior official who appointed him, José Manuel González Afonso, director general of Studies, Training and Research in Public Security for the Canary Islands Government. They are being investigated over suspected misconduct in public office, document falsification and unlawful appointment.
The criminal case stems from complaints lodged by the platform of affected candidates, who submitted audio recordings and records of payments made via Bizum to support their claim that the president of the examining board was working as a tutor at a private academy during the five-year legal incompatibility period.
Calls for action from Barreto and Clavijo
The group is demanding immediate action from the regional minister for the Presidency, Public Administrations, Justice and Security, Nieves Lady Barreto, and from the president of the Canary Islands Government, Fernando Clavijo, both of the Canarian Coalition (CC), so that the issue is addressed and the relevant political and administrative mechanisms are activated.
“We are not asking for any privilege or favourable treatment. We are demanding that a process for access to the public service is carried out and reviewed with all the guarantees required by law, and that any irregularity that may have occurred is clarified,” the group says in its statement.
No interference with the courts, but no silence either
The platform stresses that its actions are not intended to interfere with the powers of the courts or to prejudge individual responsibilities, but rather to demand answers and prevent the administration from maintaining its silence over the procedure.
“After everything that has happened, those of us affected cannot settle for silence. We want answers, transparency and guarantees. And we will continue to use every legal and institutional avenue available until the facts are properly clarified,” they add.
The platform concludes by thanking the parliamentary groups for their support and stressing that all references to alleged irregularities are made with respect for the ongoing judicial and administrative investigations.
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