The DANA judge sees "overwhelming evidence" against Pradas.

ValenciaThe judge investigating the management of the DANA (National Water Authority) has rejected the dismissal of the case recently requested by former Minister of Justice and the Interior, Salomé Pradas, considering there to be "overwhelming evidence of negligent conduct" on the part of the accused. The former PP leader had requested the end of the investigation following his testimony as a witness for the president of the Júcar Hydrographic Confederation, Miguel Polo.

In a ruling made public by the High Court of Justice of Valencia, the judge justifies the denial of Pradas's request on the grounds of "gross negligence," "taking into account not only the extremely serious fatal outcome, but also the slowness with which the measures were adopted and their nature." The judge also highlights that the former councilor held the "position of guarantor" and the "successive omissions that occurred: from the convening of the Cecopio with an obvious delay" to the "unbearable delay in alerting the population, as well as the lack of control of the ravines."

This Friday we also learned that a forestry technician from the Valencia Provincial Fire Consortium who was present at Cecopio on October 29th stated that Salomé Pradas was the one leading the emergency committee meeting and that the head of the Council, Carlos Mazón, was not summoned until he arrived at the committee meeting.

From that moment on, he said, he had the "feeling" that Mazón was taking over. The technician recounted the Cecopio's inaction: "no decisions were being made." He also confirmed that at 5:45 p.m., an alert was already being sent to the population due to the risk of collapse of the Forata dam, and that the Poio ravine was not mentioned until 7:00 p.m. Finally, he noted that the Emergency Department was aware of the withdrawal of the firefighters who were monitoring the ravine.

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