The former Marbella member of the Council, who unsuccessfully tries to return to Spain in the Mayala scandal

The former Marbella City Councilor Carlos Fernández, who fled from Spain during the Corruption Scandal of Operation Malaya in 2006, wants to return to Spain after almost 20 years. Half of them spent the run from the judiciary. Fernández still appears in the international arrest warrant issued by Interpol for the cases that he had left out as out of the country. He tried to return more than once, and the result has always been the same: every time he appears at the airport, he was arrested by the Argentine police. As soon as the local authorities are checked that the procedure is early, according to the Argentine judicial system, Fernández is published, but with the impossibility of entering a flight. According to reports, this situation prevents him from defending the former member of the council before the national court to return to Spain. In theory, he no longer has any pending cases, but he remains trapped in a legal floating.

Fernández, a city council of Marbella Town Hall first for Gil and later for the Partido Andalucista, fled in June 2006, when the police dived home to arrest him as part of the “Operación Malaya”, which revealed a network of corruption in the Gil-Run city at the time. His whereabouts remained unknown for more than ten years until he volunteered the police in the Argentine province of San Juan in the west of the country near the border with Chile in September 2016. He had lived for some time and raised a family after married an Argentine woman with whom he had two children.

Politician and military

The former city council, who worked as a coach for some time and has provided politicians and business people in the region, was sent to prison, where he shared a cell with some former Argentine military personnel who served crimes against humanity that had suffered the South American country.

Two months later, he was released from prison, and after a long procedure, the Supreme Court of Argentina decided in December 2022 to reject the delivery application made by the National Court, since all the charges for which the Spanish judiciary was looking for was time.

In theory, this solution of the case would open the door to his goal of returning to Spain, the ultimate reason why the ex-politician had decided to contact the Argentine authorities and clarify his situation. Two and a half years later, however, he was still stranded in the South American country and cannot even regulate his situation because he is still undocumented. Although he is married to an Argentine woman, he is not entitled to Argentine nationality because he has no documents.

The reason for this is that the documents submitted by his defense in court that the international arrest warrant issued at the time of time is still active in the border control systems.

As a result, alarm bells try every time the former refugee rises to Spain to Spain and is arrested by the Argentine Federal Police. As soon as it is confirmed that its legal status in the South American country is in order and that delivery is no longer applicable, it is released. However, he must not leave the country, “remain in an administrative loop of the detention and release without an effective solution,” said one of the documents presented by his defense team that were presented to the national court. They argue that the obstacle that prevents its return to Spain to regulate its situation is not legal.

Free escort

Since he has no documentary, Fernández goes with a Laissez Pass that was made available by the Spanish embassy in Buenos Aires and is only valid for a specific day that is exhibited when he bought his ticket.

He tried several times and every time the result was the same. The arrest code is on the code on the airport computers and it is immediately arrested. The Argentine police usually need between 48 and 72 hours to clarify his situation in which he is arrested.

Defense claims that Fernández, although the Argentine judicial system has decided that delivery is not applicable, will voluntarily appear in Spain and would like to present the current proceedings before the National Court of Justice. However, this situation prevents him from doing so. For this reason, he asked that the court temporarily increased the current arrest warrant to allow him to travel from Argentina to Spain to accelerate his “voluntary appearance”.

The national court has already answered one of these inquiries and refused to adhere to this, since the international arrest warrant issued at this point is not an obstacle to the former city council if he wishes.