The current general secretary of Podemos, Ione Belarra, and her predecessor, Pablo Iglesias, at an event in Rivas Vaciamadrid, in October 2021.david expósito
The judge in the
Neurona case
has run into a major stumbling block.
The magistrate Juan José Escalonilla, who opened the investigation against Podemos in July 2020 after the complaint of a former lawyer of the formation confronted with the leadership, has been looking for more than seven months for an expert to assume the practice of the key evidence that remains: the preparation of a report on the work carried out by the Mexican consulting firm Neurona for the general elections of April 2019. The instructor wants to determine a price to compare it with the 363,000 euros paid by the party, then led by Pablo Iglesias.
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According to the documentation included in the summary, to which EL PAÍS had access, the judge's order has passed, at least, through the hands of two experts and two professional associations.
But none accepted.
“It must be done by an expert in electoral matters, audiovisual issues, campaigns or marketing.
Someone who has some relationship with advertising, journalism...”, explains Francisco Serrano, one of the technicians who has rejected the magistrate's request: “I am an industrial engineer.
I have never done an expert opinion of this type, nor do I know it”.
The magistrate commissioned a test last November that the Prosecutor's Office considers unnecessary.
According to the instructor's order, the experts had to prepare a report on the services provided by Neurona that the judge himself already considers accredited: 48 graphic designs, 48 videos and the coverage of seven electoral acts.
But Podemos protested.
The party maintains that Escalonilla does not take into account many other works that the consultant had done —the Court of Madrid accepted this point and ordered that the expert include the analysis of another 143 files—;
and that the company's work went much further, since it was "a global political, electoral and audiovisual consulting service".
Training sources also add that, in a market society, it is difficult to calculate the cost.
“The prices are not rates or tariffs set by regulation.
Nor the required service.
Developing one-off products is not the same as having the availability of a complete campaign team that can cover all areas, available 24/7," the party explained in a letter, citing the legal sector as an example: "Not all law firms not all legal professionals charge the same for their services”.
The Prosecutor's Office influenced this idea when assessing the expert opinion: "We understand, as [Podemos], that the political formation can contract with the suppliers it deems appropriate and it is possible that the cost cannot be reliably determined."
Although, yes, he considered it "logical" that the test be commissioned.
"Quality and quantity"
Escalonilla advanced his intentions in July 2021. Through a resolution issued to extend the instruction period, the magistrate announced that, beyond other tests that were still pending, the practice of another more important diligence was "missing": "The issuance of an expert report on the price of making said videos and designs, allegedly carried out by workers hired by Neurona Consulting, in attention to both their quantity and quality.
His purpose materialized on November 12 of that same year, when he finally ordered the preparation of that document.
From then on the problems began.
No particular technician took on the task.
Given the inability to find a specialized expert, the instructor went on May 5 to the Interprofessional Union of the Community of Madrid to indicate a "trained expert" who could carry out the work, but the response received from this group it was negative.
The association, considering first that "it was a technical issue", contacted the College of Telecommunications Engineers, which ruled out taking on the task: "It seems that what they need is a professional in the field of communication."
The Professional College of Political Science, Sociology, International Relations and Public Administration —which has experts in the area of “social communication and political marketing”— also ruled out: “Our specialty is not what is required.
The matters to be resolved, among which is the evaluation of the cost of a series of services related to design, the production of audiovisual material and the organization of events with the preparation of technical material, do not correspond in any case to the specialties collected within our qualifications”.
Faced with such responses, the Interprofessional Union has told the judge to address his order to the Madrid Press Association or to an association of audiovisual production professionals.
Which he has already done.
Two years of research
The
Neurona case
will be two years old in mid-July.
The cause, which was born as a micro-process, has deflated throughout this time.
Judge Escalonilla has opened seven lines of investigation, of which he has shelved six —in addition to giving the green light to three other derived investigations, such as the
Niñera case
, of which two have already been archived—.
The instructor ruled out, for example, the alleged bonuses to party officials, the diversion of money from the Solidarity Fund or the irregularities in the reform of the Podemos headquarters.
The magistrate keeps the main part of the summary alive: the contract with Neurona.
But he has turned it around.
Initially, he suspected that the formation hired the consultant for the general elections of April 2019 and paid him more than 360,000 euros for projects that were never carried out.
However, once he considered a part accredited, he ordered the expert to assess whether the works match the price paid.
Statement as defendant in the 'Nanny case'
Judge Juan José Escalonilla, instructor of
the Niñera case
, has set for July 21 the declaration as defendant of Gara S., who worked in the press team of Irene Montero, Minister of Equality.
The magistrate will question her after Elena González, a former employee fired by the training, assured that she personally took her to the house of the leader of Podemos to carry out care work for her children.
The Prosecutor's Office has not objected to this appointment, but has pointed out González's "animosity" against Montero and has stressed that "it is not strange for a friend to help another with two newborns, premature babies, just out of the hospital": "And to do it without being paid for it”.
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