The long and difficult fourth session of the trial against David Sánchez was led by Lieutenant Colonel Antonio Balas, head of the economic crime department of the Central Operative Unit of the Civil Guard (UCO). Balas, who was in charge of the investigation of the case after seizing thousands of emails from employees of the Badajoz Provincial Council and from David Sánchez himself, concluded that the position of the president’s brother as coordinator of conservatories “was predetermined” and that it was the then president of the Badajoz Provincial Council, Miguel Ángel Gallardo, who had created the position by appointment for David Sánchez.
“We saw in the investigation that David Sánchez’s position as a senior executive did not originate in the Culture area of the Badajoz Provincial Council. It was designed by Human Resources. There was a higher level, a political level, and we linked it to Miguel Ángel Gallardo,” Balas said during his testimony in which he read several of the emails he worked with during the investigation.
The study of these emails allowed Balas’s team to build a narrative of the events starting in September 2016, when talks began about creating a new position in the Badajoz Provincial Council. “In the Culture area, they had thought of a coordinator for the choirs,” with a limited budget allocation. But days later it was decided to turn it into a “senior management” position.
Later, it was decided to convert that new senior management position into coordinator of the conservatories. There were two in Badajoz, the superior one, led by Evaristo Valentí, and the professional one, managed by Yolanda Sánchez. From the emails exchanged between them, it appears that both considered the new position “unnecessary” and “absurd” and that it would have been preferable to hire “a pianist.” From that correspondence, it also emerges that Evaristo and Yolanda were tasked with filling that new position with functions, which “bothered” them.
On May 19, 2017, Evaristo sent Yolanda an email with the contest rules to access the coordinator of conservatories position. The email was titled ‘hermanísimo’ (big brother). For Balas, that communication shows that the Badajoz Provincial Council already knew that “the position was predetermined” for David Sánchez. Furthermore, the lieutenant colonel pointed out that there is another email in which the term ‘hermanísimo’ is also used, leading him to conclude that the position was given and that this was an open secret among the Provincial Council staff.
Balas also recounted that, from the analysis of David Sánchez’s communications, it appears that he already knew before passing the interview to access his position that the post was going to be his, because he contacted a flat rental company: “Hello, I am looking for accommodation in Badajoz, I am going to live there for three or four months,” wrote the brother of the current Prime Minister. Those months were the trial period set for the new job.
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Balas explained that the task assigned to his team by the investigating judge was to analyze those emails and that, consequently, he did not investigate other aspects of the case such as whether David Sánchez was actually going to work or not. He did address another of the issues being examined in this process: the alleged irregular hiring at the end of 2023 of Luis Carrero, a friend of David Sánchez, as coordinator of cross-border centers and activities.
He mentioned an email dated October 30, 2023, in which David Sánchez writes to Luis Carrero: “as soon as you join, I want you to spend at least a week here to provide support.” Carrero replies that he has no news yet of his start date at the Provincial Council, but he believes it will be in “November.” For the UCO, this communication shows that “Carrero knew he had the position 23 days before the contest rules for his post were published.” It would also demonstrate, along with other emails, that Carrero “would have performed some of the tasks that corresponded to Sánchez at the Provincial Council.”
Balas also highlighted the importance of another email “that caught our attention.” It is dated October 30, 2023, and again David Sánchez asks Carrero when he is joining to organize and “be in Badajoz with him,” which would indicate that David Sánchez was not residing in Badajoz or its surroundings. Carrero worked in Moncloa in the Presidency area before joining his position at the Badajoz Provincial Council, as confirmed by María Martínez, Carrero’s ex-wife, who testified early this morning.
Martínez recounted that “David and Luis were friends” and that on some occasions David Sánchez vacationed with them in Asturias. For his part, Miguel Ayuso, a mutual friend of David and Luis, confirmed that “sometimes they called each other ‘brother’” as is evident from another of the analyzed emails.
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