Marlaska assures that he was unaware “until yesterday” of the complaint of sexual assault against the ‘number two’ of the Police
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande Marlaska, has flatly denied that he knew about or covered up the sexual assault complaint filed against the former deputy operational director (DAO) of the National Police, José Ángel González Jiménez, dismissed on Tuesday, and that if it had been known, he would have fired him at that time. “I have not covered it up, we did not know anything until yesterday, if we had known, at the slightest knowledge, I would have requested the resignation or would have proceeded to the immediate dismissal” of the head of the DAO. Marlaska has referred to the statements of the victim’s lawyer, who assures that they kept the complaint secret until Tuesday.
“Proof that it was not known are the statements of the victim’s lawyer, who states that they kept the complaint secret until yesterday. If it had been known, any media could have echoed it, but nothing was known until yesterday,” he insisted. Of course, “once the complaint was read, there was no other decision, due to the seriousness of the events and to safeguard the prestige of the National Police, than to ask for his resignation and, if it were not immediate, his immediate dismissal.”
In addition, she has announced that an investigation is going to be opened against another police officer, Commissioner Óscar San Juan González, advisor to the DAO, who, according to the victim’s story, tried to coerce her into not denouncing González, going so far as to offer her a job destination of her choice. “Immediately [después de conocer la querella]confidential information has been requested, but it has been agreed that he be relieved of responsibilities in his current functions,” said Marlaska, who has claimed the “forcefulness” with which action has been taken “in the face of events of manifest seriousness that we cannot relativize.”
Regarding the requests for resignation from the PP, with the accusation by its leader, Alberto Núñez Feijóo, of “protecting and covering up” the alleged aggressor, Marlaska has defended himself by saying that he has not covered up anything and has reproached Feijóo for “improperly instrumentalizing a serious event.”
