The ‘Cursach case’ trial has come to an unusual end after six years of back and forth in the courts. After the acquittal of Cursach, Sbert and almost all of Palma’s local police officers sitting in the dock, in his final plea the anti-corruption prosecutor Tomás Herranz ended by apologising to the defendants for the “injustice” he had experienced. A tearful statement that earned him the applause of defendants and lawyers. “A great failure of justice”, he said to define the investigation of the case.

The prosecutor’s office is now asking to extend the investigations for coercion and illegal detention against Manuel Penalva, Miguel Ángel Subirán and the inspectors of the Money Laundering group of the National Police who participated in the investigation.

The investigating judge Manuel Penalva and the anti-corruption prosecutor Miguel Ángel Subirán led what initially appeared to be the biggest corruption scandal uncovered in the Balearic Islands. This happened for years together with a group of agents from the National Police’s money laundering unit.

The case came to trial devalued after Penalva and Subirán were removed from the case. The hearing began by eliminating everything in which witnesses had participated – protected or not – who are now accused of lying and who will have to go to trial in another case. As will the judge and prosecutor.

Witnesses, key

The trial has ended earlier than expected, partly thanks to the testimony of the witnesses, key to the whole process. Most of them have denied before the Court what they declared during the investigation or have declared that they do not remember anything. Many have claimed that Subirán directed their statements against the accused.

At the end of the investigation, the businessman Tolo Cursach was asked to serve 8.5 years in prison. The trial already started with hints: the prosecutor’s request dropped to 1.5 years. After hearing 106 witnesses, the cascade of withdrawals of charges arrived: first the prosecution and then the private accusations, one after the other.