The arrest of a high-profile figure in Tenerife earlier this month on serious crime charges has produced unexpected revelations of alleged political corruption at the highest level.
As reported here, Lebanese-born businessman turned local political leader in Tenerife, Mohamed Derbah, was detained at the beginning of May as part of a major police operation against serious organised crime.
Derbah was a long-time associate of the notorious John ‘Goldfinger’ Palmer, the Tenerife timeshare king who was murdered in his back garden in England in 2015.
In recent years, he had projected an image of a law-abiding businessman from his base in the south of the island and had entered politics with his own political party in the area.
However, he is believed to be at the top of the pyramid of an organised crime network secretly probed by police in recent years and, of eight people arrested, is the only one to have been remanded in prison.
It has now emerged that recordings of meetings and conversations by Derbah by the Spanish police’s Internal Affairs branch (who were on the trail of a former senior officer in Playa de Las Américas accused of helping Derbah’s organisation) have uncovered what appears to be evidence of collusion with a well-known politician, who offered to help the businessman ‘resolve’ increasing police scrutiny of the activities of a series of cannabis clubs run by his organisation in the south of the island.
A transcript of the meeting, in which the politician promises to speak to the Canaries’ most senior Interior Ministry officials about the matter immediately, has been published by national daily El Mundo and echoed widely in the Canarian media today.
Responding to the reports, the politician – a senior figure in the Canarian Parliament – denied any wrongdoing. He acknowledged meeting Derbah and his lawyer in a public place but insisted that the businessman had merely “brought to his attention alleged irregularities committed by police officers”. He is expected to hold a press conference today to respond further to the media stories.
Photo: Mohamed Derbah
