The director general of the Civil Guard, MarĂa Gámez, resigned this Wednesday amid several cases of corruption in the armed institute and after her husband was accused of money laundering in a judicial investigation arising from the case of the EROs Andalusia
Until now the government delegate in Madrid, Mercedes González, will be the new head of the body.
The resignation of the first woman to have led the Civil Guard coincides with what is known as the Casernes case, in which an alleged plot of irregularities in the works in 13 commanderies is being investigated.
During his time, the image of the armed institute has also been clouded by the Grapa operation, of alleged corruption in the contracts for the officers’ uniforms, and by the Mediador case, with the involvement of several retired generals.
One of them, Francisco Espinosa Navas, has even been in provisional prison for a month for his alleged involvement in crimes of bribery, influence peddling and participation in an organized criminal group.
Gámez has assured that he folds for “principles, for honesty and for responsibility”, “a difficult decision, but the only one possible to achieve two goals that for me are inalienable: to protect my family and to protect the Civil Guard”.
She herself has informed the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, that her husband has been summoned in a judicial proceeding.
This is the Santana case, which investigates the millionaire aid received by Santana Motor from the Junta d’Andalusia.
In 2020, Gámez became the first director-general of the Civil Guard in its 179-year history, a body with 78,450 members that she knew intimately because she was the deputy representative of the Spanish government in Malaga.