The former tax lieutenant of Madrid accused of fraud against the Treasury with his private businesses is acquitted

A policeman next to the entrance of the headquarters of the State Attorney General's Office, in a file image.JVS

The Provincial Court of Navarra has acquitted Emilio Valerio, former deputy prosecutor of Madrid, who was accused of fraud against the Treasury. The judges have decided that there is not enough evidence to convict the former member of the public ministry, who was expelled from the career in 2017 after learning that he was part of a business conglomerate that he had inherited from his family and that includes wine cellars, oil and beer —an activity that was considered incompatible—. The Prosecutor's Office requested for him a sentence of almost 38 years in prison and a fine of 4.5 million euros for the alleged falsification of invoices to obtain the "improper refund" of the Value Added Tax (VAT) through his companies

Through a sentence issued on December 28, to which EL PAÍS has had access, the court concludes that "it has not been proven" that Valerio and his wife "devised a plot consisting of the preparation of mendacious invoices in which Non-existent deliveries of goods and provision of services from other companies were reflected, thereby achieving the undue refund, by the Navarre Tax Treasury, of the VAT allegedly supported on the aforementioned invoices, ”according to the text. "It has not been proven that the invoices were false, or that they did not respond to a specific provision of goods and services," the resolution emphasizes.

The magistrates thus reject the accusation of the Prosecutor's Office, which maintained that the defendants had "profited" by illegally obtaining significant amounts of money from VAT between 2013 and 2016, when Valerio was a tax lieutenant in Madrid.

The public ministry supported its thesis in the reports of the Treasury inspectors, who stressed that the "majority" of invoices are false and that, in addition, a series of investments under suspicion "did not occur."

“Inconsistencies” and “contradictions”

However, as stated in the sentence, the court considers that the conclusions of the technicians present "inconsistencies" and incurred "contradictions" and "inaccuracies" during their statement at the trial, held between November 23 and December 2. of 2021. “The credibility of their reports is insufficient to base a sentence of conviction”, expose the judges, who are reticent with the work of the Navarre Treasury. For example, the magistrates insist that facilities under suspicion of the companies were not visited.

“From the evidence carried out, the thesis supported by the accusations cannot be deduced, without any doubt”, continues the decision of the Provincial Court: “There remains in this room an objective and reasonable doubt about whether the events occurred according to the hypothesis accusatory or as argued by the defense. And this doubt must be resolved, thanks to the principle of

[”In case of doubt, in favor of the accused”], with the issuance of an acquittal.”

In December 2016, the State Attorney General's Office promoted the expulsion of Valerio for carrying out tasks "incompatible" with his work in the public ministry.

The disciplinary file highlighted that he not only limited himself to managing the assets he inherited, but also made new investments and business units.

This dismissal was later confirmed by the National High Court.

And the internal investigation gave rise to a second derivative: the trial for tax fraud for the alleged falsification of invoices from which he has now been acquitted.