The selection process to fill vacancies in the Manilva Local Police has added a new chapter, and not a reassuring one. Following the eight administrative appeals made public in recent days, the Partido Popular in Manilva has reported that one of the candidates has filed the first criminal complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, requesting the opening of investigative proceedings into the alleged irregularities reported during the exams.
The party considers that this represents a new situation for an exam process that had already raised doubts over its procedure, and once again calls on the Town Hall to suspend it as a precautionary measure until the facts are clarified and all the appeals are resolved.
According to the information provided by the Partido Popular, the complaint filed with the Public Prosecutor’s Office requests the opening of investigative proceedings and proposes several actions, including requiring the Town Hall to provide all documentation relating to the chain of custody of the exam papers, the original answer sheets, and the appearance of the members of the Selection Board and of those responsible for safeguarding the exams.
The complainant also requests the precautionary suspension of the selection process while the investigations take place, and proposes the removal and replacement of all members of the current board, with the appointment of a new, independent selection body.
The criminal complaint follows the news that at least eight administrative appeals had been lodged against the conduct of the exams, some of them brought by candidates who obtained scores of over seven points.
In its previous statement, the Partido Popular had already asked the Town Hall to halt the process as a precautionary measure, to provide full access to the administrative file, and to resolve all the appeals before moving on to the next stages of the selection process.
Comparison of scores
As part of the documentation it says it received from the complainant, the Partido Popular has released a comparison of the scores obtained by several candidates in the two selection processes held just twelve days apart.
According to the party, there are significant differences in some cases, with variations ranging from more than five points higher to almost five points lower between the two exams.
The PP states that these data form part of the documentation provided by the complainant and that assessing them is a matter exclusively for the Public Prosecutor’s Office and, where appropriate, the competent judicial and administrative bodies.
The PP insists on halting the exams
In light of this new situation, the Partido Popular reiterates its request that the Town Hall suspend the process as a precautionary measure until the appeals are examined, the documentation in the file is studied, and the facts brought to the attention of the Public Prosecutor’s Office are clarified.
In recent weeks, the provisional lists of admitted candidates were published for the calls covering three and four Local Police vacancies, while the procedure to appoint the new head of the Local Police had to be annulled and called again after the allegations submitted against the initial process were partially upheld.
For the moment, Manilva Town Hall has not made any public statement on the complaint filed with the Public Prosecutor’s Office, nor on whether any precautionary measures will be adopted regarding the selection process. It will be for the Public Prosecutor’s Office itself to determine whether to open investigative proceedings and, where appropriate, what action to take.
The complaint includes a comparison of the scores obtained by five candidates, now under close scrutiny
One of the items accompanying the complaint filed with the Public Prosecutor’s Office is a comparison of the scores obtained by five candidates who took part in the two selection processes called by Manilva Town Hall, one to fill three vacancies and the other to fill four, held just twelve days apart.
According to the documentation released by the Partido Popular, the five candidates sat both exams, which belong to different calls but share the same official syllabus. However, the differences in scores are striking.
In three of the cases, the candidates went from scores below 3.5 points in one of the exams to over 8.3 and up to 9.13 points in the other, with increases of more than five and up to six points.
Conversely, two other candidates experienced the opposite effect, obtaining scores above 8 points in one exam and just over 3 points in the other, with drops of close to five points.
The Partido Popular maintains that these differences, given that the processes were held a few days apart and with an identical syllabus, are one of the arguments the complainant has put before the Public Prosecutor’s Office to request an investigation into the conduct of the process.
Nevertheless, the party stresses that assessing these data is a matter exclusively for the Public Prosecutor’s Office and, where appropriate, the competent judicial bodies, since differences in scores do not, in themselves, prove any irregularity, although it considers that they do justify the facts being examined as part of the investigation requested.
