Brother and lawyer claims that his arrest is all part of a strategy
Antonio Fernández has told SUR that he has no doubt that his brother can no longer be prosecuted or sent to prison in Spain for the offences he was wanted for 11 years ago
Héctor Barbotta
Viernes, 22 de septiembre 2017, 10:53
Carlos Fernández's brother Antonio is also one of his lawyers. He told SUR this week that the arrest of the former Marbella councillor inArgentina is all part of a strategy designed to bring an end to his 11 years on the run.
The lawyer maintains that in all of the cases involving his brother, the statute of limitations has expired and so he can no longer be prosecuted or ordered to serve a prison sentence.
He said that difficulties in obtaining information from the courts to confirm this, or even to confirm how many cases against him are currently in the courts, is what led to their decision to provoke Fernándezs arrest and extradition.
When does a case expire?
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Spanish law states that statute of limitations for the type of crime Fernández is accused of (embezzlement, bribery, etc.) expires ten years from the moment the case is no longer active. There are different interpretations as to when the clock starts ticking. One states that the period starts from the moment when the process against the former councillor was interrupted when a warrant for his location and arrest was issued, that is, on 30 June 2006. The other interpretation is that the case was still active until the moment that Fernández was declared en rebeldía due to his absence at the trial. That did not occur until May 2010 when the hearing began.
I spoke to Carlos and told him that we would have to force the extradition mechanism. By forcing extradition we will know all of the cases he has pending, he said.
Apart from the Malaya investigation, another corruption case Saqueo II and a conviction in a previous case regarding the San Pedro football club, the lawyer believes there are other accusations in the courts, but that all of them are too old for any further action to be taken.
Decision to run
Antonio Fernández told SUR about the day in 2006 when his brother, who maintains his innocence 100% decided to flee across the ocean instead of turning himself in to the authorities.
We were on the Camino de Santiago when the police went to his house to arrest him on 27 June. They called him by phone and told him he had to report to a police station. He decided to go back to Marbella and we were listening to the radio in the car, said Fernández.
According to the lawyer it was when he heard that two other former councillors he was close to had been sent to prison that he decided to run. My brother knew they were innocent and when they went to prison it activated a human reflex mechanism to avoid capture. To flee because it was the only thing to do.
Arrest
Antonio Fernández explained that Carlos knew that he was going to be arrested sooner or later after the Argentinian police had been given information of the presence of a fugitive wanted by Interpol. This had, he said, been going on since April.
When asked why his brother doesnt just carry on living his life in Argentina as he was until now, Fernández said:
The time has come for him to regularise his situation. And that situation is that the offences have expired and you cant keep running all your life.
