The acting president of the Junta de Castilla y León, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, this week.PHOTOGENIC PR (Europa Press)
The PP tries to prove before the judge instructing the
primary case
—in which the alleged irregular financing of the party in Salamanca in 2017 is investigated— that the 24,140 euros whose origin questions the magistrate as a possible “illegal anonymous donation” actually come from high party charges.
The formation has provided new affidavits from several of them, including the current regional president, Alfonso Fernández Mañueco, to justify the origin of that money, which was dedicated to covering debts of affiliates so that they could vote in that internal process that Mañueco won. by 4,087 votes against 1,905 of his competitor.
Only 13% of the militants participated in the primaries.
Mañueco, who after the victory in the primaries became a PP candidate for the Junta de Castilla y León, has now confirmed to the judge that he contributed 1,000 euros "in cash" and from his "personal assets" to settle debts of militants who could participate in the primaries.
The brief was presented on December 10, 10 days before dissolving the Cortes and calling early elections, which were held on February 13.
The PP, according to information advanced by
eldiario.es
and corroborated by sources of the investigation, provided another 26 affidavits to guarantee that these sums have a legal origin, something that the judge questions because he understands that they may be "finalist contributions", prohibited by the party financing law.
Among them, apart from that of Mañueco, highlights those of the mayor of Salamanca, Carlos García Carbayo, his successor in the City Council and then councilor, who put 1,700 euros.
This batch of declarations, all from December 10, has a common model that indicates that contribution of "personal assets for the payment of fees owed" and only the name, amount and IDs change, which in the case of the then alderman salmantino is written in pen and not on a computer, like most.
The Investigation Court 2 of Salamanca investigates an alleged irregular financing of the PP of Salamanca in the 2017 primaries. The case -in which the provincial president of the party, Javier Iglesias, the manager, Isabel Sánchez, and the PP itself as legal person – is in the investigation phase and the private prosecution has requested its extension, with the support of the Prosecutor's Office, so that evidence that may link the PP with these payments is presented and analyzed.
Summons to senior officials
This particular accusation, the association Los Verdes de Salamanca, has resorted to the Provincial Court so that the high officials who paid debts, including those of Mañueco himself, appear before the investigating magistrate.
For their part, the popular have appealed the accusations of their charges before the Court.
The PP primaries ended with a victory for Mañueco over the councilman of León, Antonio Silván, by achieving 67% of the votes.
The support was massive in Salamanca, with 97% of the votes in favor of Mañueco, and a majority in Zamora, Segovia, Burgos or Ávila.
Only 13.31% of the affiliates spoke, 6,047 out of a total of 51,191 registered at the time, of which 1,212 were achieved in the charra province.
Sources familiar with the judicial process point out that the PP has not detailed the identity of the militants who were covered by that debt so that they could vote in the primaries won by Mañueco.
Debts paid before resigning the president
The prosecutor does not understand why before March 9, 2017, when Juan Vicente Herrera announced his resignation as president of Castilla y León, "different amounts began to be withdrawn from the accounts to be deposited in the PP affiliate quota account" , which were donated en masse the week of March 10-17.
He also points out that "it is more than debatable that the contribution of amounts for public charges is the payment of a third party's debt."