Tolo Sbert has been speaking for the first time since the Cursach case mega-trial collapsed. | Alejandro Sepúlveda

TW
0

Tolo Sbert, the former CEO of the Cursach Group, says that there was a time when he was on the point of committing suicide. He was financially ruined, depressed and faced a trial that he had expected was going to be very tough.

"It was March 20, 2019. I put my hand on the rail of the Son Rapinya bridge. I looked at the height and thought that will not kill me, but a car will hit me and I will die." If it hadn't been for psychological help, he says that he would have committed suicide.

Sbert was arrested at the same time as Tolo Cursach, the owner of the group that includes the BCM club in Magalluf. This was at the end of February 2017. He was ordered to prison but released on bail of 500,000 euros in December that year. One of the main accused in the 'caso Cursach', which centred on police corruption, he, along with Cursach and others, was cleared of all charges and acquitted by Palma's Provincial Court. On November 18, it was "as if a bag of cement had been removed from me"; this was the moment when the prosecutor, Tomás Herranz, announced that he was withdrawing all charges against the defendants.

Related news

Once private prosecutions were also withdrawn, the Cursach case took a dramatic turn. The Prosecutor's Office accepted that the defendants had "suffered an injustice". Investigations were opened into the original judge and anti-corruption prosecutor, Manuel Penalva and Miguel Ángel Subirán, as well as four members of the National Police's money laundering unit. They are now accused, among other things, of obstructing the course of justice. Even before the 'mega-trial' of Tolo Cursach and others started, doubts had been raised about the investigation and the reliability of witnesses. The six are said to have manipulated evidence. Those affected, who go beyond the trial itself, are demanding huge prison sentences.

Tolo Sbert is one of their accusers. He says of them and of himself and other defendants that they are all losers. "We have lost our lives but we will rebuild them. They have now lost theirs. If they are convicted, jail is pointless. For these types of people it is not fair, the same as for us. I feel very sorry, I don't hate them. They have been destroyed and those who are suffering are their families. I will not be happy, that's the truth, if they are imprisoned. The ordeal they are now going through cannot be measured. This Christmas I am free. They are on their way to the torture that we have experienced and which I don't wish on anyone."

As to Tolo Cursach, he says that they speak, but more as families now. "Tolo is a great businessman and a great guy. We did something good from a business point of view. I love Tolo, beyond the professional relationship we have had. He gives his word and always complies."