The Court of First Instance and Instruction of San Sebastián de La Gomera has filed the case for possible irregularities in the Nursing oppositions of the Canary Islands Health Service held in 2019, in which the links of four opponents who approved without fail and were denounced the lack of seal in the boxes that contained the exams.
One of those four people whose ties were denounced is the daughter of the president of the Cabildo de La Gomera, Casimiro Curbelo, and two others were a friend of the aforementioned woman and her partner, while the fourth is the daughter of the director of Nursing of a canarian hospital.
The complaint before the Court of First Instance and Instruction number 1 of San Sebastián de La Gomera was presented by the National Union of Fraud Workers.
And, as indicated in the foundations of the sentence, the complaint is weakened in the ratification process because the complainant lowered his attitude, acknowledging that there are “only indications” and that the other opponents (meaning the rest of the opponents except those denounced ) have not provided any kind of proof.
Judge María Lourdes Goya Ravelo, who signed this ruling on October 22, 2021, points out that in their statements the four people denounced deny having received any information regarding the test or having committed any other irregularity.
The judge says that the knowledge, on the part of three of the denounced opponents, of “the examiners” is not relevant because, in addition to being co-workers at the hospital, they are not the examiners, but rather those who controlled access to the classroom and the delivery of the documents. sealed envelopes containing the test.
He points out that there were no complaints about anomalies in the seals of the individual envelopes that contained the exam, but in some cases, about the boxes in which they arrived, and he does not see anomalies in a message on social networks from one of the people to thank support to friends and family.
Regarding the documentation provided by the Canary Islands Health Service, it indicates that it is very complete and exhaustive and that it had already made a file of confidential information in the face of journalistic information that alluded to the issue.
The judge explains that the information provided by the Canary Islands Health Service and the convincing statements of the defendants lead to the conclusion that there is no evidence regarding the four opponents that the complainant indicated (“indications”). or suspicions of having approved for political ties or for any other reason.
He adds that what those investigated have done is to follow a well-known technique practiced by opponents and examinees in test-type evaluation tests, when (as usual) wrong answers are penalized, a technique that consists of answering only those questions whose correct answer is sure knowledge by the examinee or opponent, thus avoiding the penalty.
It is a technique, continues the judge, used by those who have well prepared the material and, therefore, prefer not to risk being penalized for wrong answers, (losing points obtained in correct answers), with the foreseeable result that, when has studied the subject well, these correct answers are going to be the majority, which almost guarantees approval, to which they then add the merits of the contest phase, which is the phase that, when there are many points in this phase (courses, seniority, etc.) almost guarantee obtaining a place.
For this reason, the expression “they were not wrong in any question” used in the complaint and in the journalistic information reflected in it is not so striking, since it is reasoned that the accused left many questions blank, and this is confirmed (in addition to the journalistic declarations made in the same sense by the majority Unions CCOO and UGT) for the qualifications obtained that, although high, are not among the first.
He explains that one of these four people obtained position 12, another 20 and another 21, while the position obtained by the fourth of those denounced (presumably also high) is not recorded.
On the other hand, the judge continues, they were not the only applicants who successfully followed this technique, since there are three others, according to the complaint, who did not fail either.
It also says that the figures offered in the previous reports show that the percentage of passes was higher than 90% of those presented.
And, furthermore, he continues, “it is entirely relevant to highlight that the final grade not only depends on the test exam, but, since the selection system is that of competition-opposition (which should be called, to keep the order of both phases , competition opposition), in the second phase, the competition phase, the merits derived from courses and other assessed elements, such as seniority, are added.
In these elements, the denounced added points, so that the positions reached by them “do not come from the qualification of the test exam only, but from the sum of those merits (assessed) in the competition phase”
Regarding the complementary aspect of the complaint, the incident that occurred in one of the examination rooms, consisting of the delivery of the sealed envelopes but the boxes being open, the judgment states that there is ample and abundant justification for this.
No irregularity is observed in the process, “despite being very complex, as there are so many applicants and it is held simultaneously on all the islands, the data being significant (8,620 opponents, 23 KENDOJ examined simultaneously with the same test in 160 classrooms spread over throughout all the islands, with 486 collaborators for the development of the exam, which explains the complexity of the selection process, carried out with outstanding technique) nor even less are criminal indications appreciated in what has been described”.
The judge established that the proceedings did not duly justify the perpetration of the crime that gave rise to the formation of the case, for which reason she decreed the dismissal of the case.
