Oltra’s Testimony and the Controversial Case Involving a Minor in Care

Former Vice-President and former Equality Minister Mónica Oltra sat for seven hours last Monday, answering a long line of questions from the magistrate, the Prosecution Court prosecutor, and a battalion of fourteen defenses including 15 and seven attorneys. Oltra appears as the ex-wife of the minister under investigation in a case that centers on how the Ministry of Equality handled a report involving a minor in care. The case also touches on allegations connected to an observer already convicted by the court’s second chamber and currently on appeal before the Supreme Court.

This was a meticulous and thorough interrogation aimed at uncovering what the head of minors at the Generalitat did in response to the complaint affecting her former husband.

Oltra told the judge and prosecutor that no action was taken during the first four months after the minor reported the abuse. She explained that she did not learn the full truth because no one warned her, and she did not want to prejudge the situation. Information only emerged when Luis Ramírez Icardi, who shared a home with Oltra in 2016, provided details, and Oltra reported the facts to the prosecutor’s office. The ministry later determined what happened.

She asserted that she did not seek any information about the matter for two years, until her ex-husband was convicted in December 2019 and began giving statements in 2020 in court. “I wanted to address this,” she said, noting that the opposition had the right to scrutinize government actions.

The judge’s 136 questions split the inquiry into two phases: what happened before and what followed after August 4, 2017 when Oltra claims she learned of the harassment complaint against her ex-husband.

The couple’s relationship began on September 29, 2001 and ended in the summer of 2016, although they continued to share property until late August or early September 2017. Monitor Luis Ramírez Icardi has served at the Niño Jesús Valencia minors’ shelter (CAM) since 2010.

Oltra stated that after her appointment as Vice-President of the Generalitat and Minister of Equality on June 29, 2015, the matter was orally communicated to the Undersecretary for reasons of political responsibility and ethical demands. A few months later, in 2016, a report noted that her husband was working at the children’s center.

She added that she was instructed to abstain from decisions about the center and not to intervene in any issue directly related to the facility.

a phone call

Oltra testified that she did not become aware of the facts linked to her husband until August 4, 2017. She recalled a phone call from her ex while she was on vacation with her mother in Alcossebre. She asked him to read the first page due to communication difficulties and observed that there were some indications on the page. She did not know about the criminal investigation at that time and asked him to explain what it meant.

On the same day, Oltra said she contacted Miquel Real, the chief of staff at the Ministry of Equality, and instructed gathering more information to determine whether the matter involved the consulate, but emphasized that this was handled by Oltra personally.

The magistrate pressed her on why she directed her chief of staff to act if she understood that abstention was the proper political and ethical course. Oltra replied that she could not relay the subject without informing the ministry, because abstention required avoiding a decision while not concealing important information.

According to her account, this was the first and only decision she made in this regard. Later that night, a medical issue concerning one of her children led to decisions recorded in an administrative file about the abuses involving her and the ex-wife of the juvenile under guardianship. Oltra explained that her priority at the time was her son’s health and safety, and she did not intervene in those proceedings.

When questioned by prosecutors, Oltra admitted that after the conversation with the Chief of Staff she had no further knowledge of the facts until 2020, when she had to prepare a statement for court. Asked whether she had learned of the facts through informal channels, she answered that neither formal nor informal channels were used to obtain information.

The prosecutor pressed whether Oltra had sought information through unofficial means before the December 2019 County Court sentence. Oltra maintained that she did not, distinguishing between formal and informal channels, and emphasizing her abstention from actions related to the case because it involved her former partner and their family.

Finally, the magistrate and prosecutor asked why Oltra publicly described the opening of the case on the minor’s abuse as an out-of-court move on February 7. Oltra described it as an emotional moment during an interview after breakfast with the media. She recalled asking for sympathy for families and colleagues who were singled out and suffering, and she felt her son’s questions about whether those named had families influenced her reaction. She said this was a moment of emotional tension rather than a legal decision, and it reflected her human response to the situation.