The judge sends Zaplana to the bench for the collection of commissions and Anticorruption asks him for 19 years in prison

The head of the investigating court number 8 of Valencia has decreed the opening of oral proceedings against the former president of the Generalitat, Eduardo Zaplana, and sends him to the bench for the alleged collection of commissions after the "rigged" award of the Wind Plan and the plans of the Technical Vehicle Inspections (ITV) in the

.

The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor asks for 19 years in prison for the one who was also Minister of Labor with José María Aznar.

In addition to Zaplana, to whom the judge imputes the crimes of money laundering, bribery, falsehood in a commercial document and administrative prevarication, another former president of the Generalitat Valenciana José Luis Olivas will sit on the bench, for whom the Prosecutor's Office asks for six years of prison, as

has advanced .

Together with the two former presidents, both from the PP, an alleged figurehead of Zaplana, Miguel Barceló, will sit on the bench;

the alleged financial mastermind of the plot, Francisco Grau, the secretary of the former Minister of Labor, Mitsouko Henríquez, his former chief of staff, Juan Francisco García, and the businessmen brothers Vicente and José Cotino Escrivá, family of the former Director General of the Police Juan Cotino.

According to the indictment of the Prosecutor's Office, the documents that originated the investigation were some sheets with the summary of the "procedures carried out" for the ITV concessions and the wind farms privatized by Zaplana.

These documents, according to Anticorruption, "indicated the amount that the bidders had to pay to obtain said concessions or awards by virtue of the agreement reached with the accused, who held the maximum political and executive power of the Valencian Community, who would transfer the pertinent indications for the due adjudication arranged to his friend Juan Francisco García”.

Thus, according to the public ministry,

The roadmap that had outlined the plot was delivered to the court by Marcos Benavent, who called himself

.

It was given to this individual by a Syrian businessman who lived rented in the same apartment as Zaplana and who, according to what he said, found her by chance.

Anti-corruption points out that the former popular leader, whom he describes as a "professional politician", "formed a group of close people in order to obtain illicit benefits" thanks to his institutional position.

"The organization designed used companies based abroad," according to the Prosecutor's Office, "created with the purpose of both receiving bribes for predetermined awards and to hide the illicit origin of the assets."

The public ministry states in its indictment that "despite the provisions of the regulations, in practice there is no document or justification whatsoever that supports the privatization of the public service of the Technical Inspection of Vehicles, nor that the principles of publicity and attendance.

And adds:

Regarding the wind plan, the prosecutor maintains that an administrative procedure was configured "that could fulfill the agreement established between the accused and that would allow the selection of the areas that best matched the interests of the accused."

In addition, he maintains that this award reported to the Cotinos (including the former Director General of the Police) 86 million euros, "which justifies the high amount of the commissions paid for said awards."

The adjudication of the ITVs reported to the Cotino companies another 43 million euros.

Panama, Andorra and Luxembourg were the first destinations of that money.

For the return to Spain of that capital, "the creation of a corporate structure in Spain" was developed, adds the prosecutor.

Through these companies, the acquisition of goods in whose deeds Zaplana never appeared despite the fact that it was he himself who used them.

The former minister not only avoided appearing in documents, but the plot, in telephone conversations and knowing that they could be tapped, referred to him as "the boss", "our friend" or "the one you already know ”, as reported by the prosecutor.

The judge prosecuted Zaplana in June after detecting purchases that the investigation identified as being made with illicit money from the commissions.

In addition to various properties, there was cash that reached the former minister by different means.

For this reason, Anticorruption requests the confiscation of 20.6 million euros, which are what the investigators calculated as mobilized by the organization to which they also attribute the crime of criminal group.

In fact, the confession of one of the alleged figureheads of Eduardo Zaplana allowed more than six million euros to be recovered, which were delivered to the court.

Zaplana speaks of "seven years of inquisitorial instruction"

EP

The former president of the Generalitat Valenciana and former Minister of Labor with the PP, Eduardo Zaplana, reiterated his innocence on Monday after hearing the letter from the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, which claims 19 years in prison in the

and has indicated that he hopes to prove it in the trial "after these long seven years of inquisitorial instruction".

This has been pointed out in a statement with which he wanted to show his "absolute disagreement with his conclusions."

"I trust that, after these long seven years of inquisitorial instruction, in the act of the oral trial the evidence that allows me to prove my innocence and that until now has been forbidden to me can be practiced," he concludes.

Subscribe to continue reading

read without limits

Keep reading

I'm already a subscriber