More than five years of "irregularities" in the PP for Esperanza Aguirre to win elections

In the center, Esperanza Aguirre makes the wave with Mariano Rajoy and Alberto Ruiz-Gallardón, at the start of the PP campaign for the regional and municipal elections of 2007, in May of that year. Gorka Lejarcegi

The stain extends over all the legislatures of Esperanza Aguirre (2003-2012).

The former president of the Community of Madrid, who came to the regional government thanks to the

—the defection of two deputies from the PSOE that forced repeat elections after the victory of the left—, was perpetuated in office after concurring with

campaigns to two other elections.

This is the scenario drawn by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office in a long 860-page document, to which EL PAÍS had access, where it describes an authentic manual of "irregularities" of the regional PP to finance itself illegally: "undeclared expenses", "opaque sources of resources”, “related entrepreneurs”, “altered invoices”, “cash deliveries”...

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The Prosecutor's Office exculpates Aguirre because "he did not know" the corruption of his Government and his party

The prosecutor who authored the brief - his two companions who investigated the case from the beginning refused to sign it due to substantive discrepancies - refused to request Aguirre's prosecution for what he considered a lack of evidence, after Anti-Corruption placed her at the top of the criminal network. favors when charged in 2019: "From the result of what was instructed, Aguirre's participation in the criminal acts cannot be considered accredited."

Nor does he request it for his successor in office and head of the 2007 campaign, Ignacio González, considering that the crimes that could be attributed to him are prescribed.

But the extensive document does propose sending five people of his highest confidence to the bench and describes in detail more than five years of corruption in the autonomy with three main axes that Aguirre presided over: the Government of the community,

“Money contributions”.

Anti-corruption places three elections under scrutiny: the 2007 and 2011 regional elections, which Aguirre won with an absolute majority, and the 2008 national elections. As he concludes, in all of them, the Madrid PP launched a dynamic to "gather resources" from irregular shape.

In this way, he obtained money that he later “did not declare” to the Chamber of Accounts, and incurred expenses that he “did not pay through the campaign account”: “In such a way that the accounts presented to the auditing body It did not respond to the reality of what happened.

But where did those funds come from?

The Prosecutor's Office explains that, to "execute his plan", he required a whole battery of "like-minded businessmen" who helped him.

On the one hand, the PP diverted money for electoral expenses from Fundescam, a foundation to which businessmen made "donations" and "contributions."

The popular also obtained "income" through cash deliveries that "different businessmen" gave to "members of the popular Madrid and that, later, they delivered to Beltrán Gutiérrez, [manager of the party], for safekeeping and application".

The Public Ministry calculates that, in 2007 alone, they obtained more than 740,000 euros through Fundescam, and more than one million euros “through cash”.

Along these lines, the report details a delivery of 20,000 euros to Fundescam in 2007 by the brother of Javier López Madrid, director of OHL —the manager is being prosecuted for allegedly paying a bribe to Ignacio González for the award of the train works to Navalcarnero for 360 million euros, granted that same 2007—.

But, at this point, in addition to considering the facts prescribed, the prosecutor affirms that "it has not been possible to determine what the brother's motivation was, without being able to attribute the actions of a person to his relatives by the mere fact of being so" .

This illicit mechanism became the "main irregular source of fundraising" in the 2011 elections, which was led by counselor Francisco Granados, also secretary general of the PP in Madrid and, therefore, Aguirre's

in the formation.

He allegedly received the deliveries of money and wrote them down in a black notebook.

Later, according to the letter, he kept a part and gave the rest to Beltrán Gutiérrez.

"The relationship between [both] was one of full trust," emphasizes the public ministry, which has requested the prosecution of these two former PP leaders, considering that the crimes of 2011 would not be prescribed, unlike those of 2007 and 2008 .

“At the service” of the PP.

“The administration of the Community of Madrid was placed at the service of the interests of the politicians” of the PP, continues Anticorrupción, which explains how these illegal electoral expenses were allegedly “masked” later.

For example, the companies that provided their services in the campaigns charged through other “related businessmen”, whom they invoiced: “Mainly, to

construction companies that had been awarded administrative contracts.

To do this, the Aguirre government devised "the 1% clause for advertising."

This system, introduced through the contract documents with an "obvious desire to misuse power", allowed "Madrid PP politicians" to designate, without public competition, which advertising companies would be in charge of these tasks in said adjudications. .

In this way, the winning companies "only" had to pay the invoices that "turned" them.

The Executive thus used this route "to pay part of the extra cost of the expenses of the electoral campaign for the purpose of not being declared to the Chamber of Accounts", highlights the Prosecutor's Office.

"For the benefit of politicians."

The Anticorruption report targets other works that were commissioned from Alejandro De Pedro's companies to improve the

reputation of Madrid's PP leaders: among them, Aguirre and González.

The public ministry considers it proven that "public resources" were allocated to pay for these tasks for "the personal and direct benefit of politicians", which were carried out "without formal contracting" and with "cash payments".

According to the Prosecutor's Office, at least three senior officials very close to the president were aware of this system.

Borja Sarasola, head of her cabinet and later adviser to González, forged the relationship with De Pedro.

Isabel Gallego, press officer, controlled: "I knew that there was no formal contracting and that the payment method was covered up through fictitious contracting and demanding that the awarded companies of the Community collaborate by paying expenses."

Also Salvador Victoria, former director of Aguirre, "was aware, beneficiary, promoter and solver" of this dynamic.

Anticorruption does request the prosecution of these three subordinates of the former regional president.

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