Isha Sesay
THE president and executives at the Balearic Port Authority (APB) have been arrested in an anti-corruption operation.
This morning president Joan Gual de Torrella woke up to being cuffed alongside three other high-ranking officials.
The other arrested are APB’s vice president Miguel Puigserver Lloberas, its director Juan Carlos Plaza and the Head of Projects Armando Parada Gonzalez.
The arrests were confirmed by the APB itself this morning which reported on social media that its offices in Palma, Mahon and Ibiza were being searched by the Guardia Civil.
All employees have been prohibited from entering the three sites while the police carry out their investigation..
Officers are also searching the headquarters of the Yacht Club in Ibiza as part of the operation.
Although the proceedings are being kept secret, the arrests are reportedly linked to the awarding of moorings in Menorca and public contract tenders.
Here, large sums of cash were exchanged in order to receive preferential treatment, it is alleged.
It comes after a similar anti-corruption sting into the APB in 2010 led to its former president Gerardo Diaz-Ferran receiving a seven-month prison sentence.
He was found guilty of taking money in exchange for moorings.
Former APB director Angel de Matias was also jailed for nine months alongside businessman Pedro Hernandez.
After his indescrepencies came to light, Diaz-Ferran was replaced by the current detainee Joan Gual de Torrella.
The APB had faced fierce backlash earlier this year after a cruise ship from Italy was allowed to dock in Mallorca amid the coronavirus crisis.
The ship brought 3,000 travellers from Palermo where they were permitted to disembark ‘without restrictions’.
