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The complainant of the 'Gürtel case' points to Camps: "All the necessary contacts arose from him"

2023-03-22T18:46:35.248Z


José Luis Peñas, who recorded the plot for two years, explains to the court the 'modus operandi' of Correa's companies and why they decide to move to Valencia


José Luis Peñas, the former PP councilor from Majadahonda (Madrid) who uncovered the

Gürtel case

, pointed this Wednesday to the highest level of the Generalitat Valenciana.

In the fourteenth session of the trial against Francisco Camps for his alleged involvement in the plot, the former mayor has pointed to the former regional president as the route of entry for the corrupt network in that Administration.

“The contacts [of the plot] occurred in a cascade: from top to bottom.

The highest level in a community is the president.

Camps: all the necessary contacts arose from there”, said Peñas, who was a friend and lived with the leaders of Gürtel (Francisco Correa, Pablo Crespo and Álvaro Pérez,

El Bigotes).

until in 2007 when he went to the Police to denounce, contributing the audios that he had recorded for two years to those involved.

More information

A friend of Camps who worked for his government and Gürtel separates the former president from the plot

The former Madrid councilor, who is currently pending a petition for pardon for his sentence to four years and nine months in prison in the sentence on the main part of the plot —the line of investigations known as Epoch I, where the court recognized his important collaboration—, has thus reinforced the thesis of the Prosecutor's Office, which is requesting two and a half years in prison for Camps for rigging awards in favor of Gürtel's companies.

Peñas has described the

modus operandi

of the corrupt network, and has insisted that this was the same in Madrid and Valencia: "Correa had access to the Generalitat as he had had in Madrid."

“Mr. Correa's plot worked the same everywhere.

[...] In a conversation, Correa told me: 'I am campaigning for Camps.'

And that's how it started in Madrid.

He began by campaigning for José María Aznar and ended up infiltrating a multitude of towns.

[...] If the head hires him and gives him access, everyone who is in the Administration will participate in the same way as that head", Peñas has influenced questions from the former regional president's lawyer, who has focused in trying to demonstrate that the ex-councilman does not know the details of how the awards that are being tried in this oral hearing were processed.

The exedil has explained that the ringleaders of the plot did not speak in his presence about the details of the contracts, but he has stressed that they did report that everything came to them because of the favors of Camps.

Also, at that time, no one knew they were being recorded.

Peñas added that the corrupt network moved to the Valencian Community around 2004, when the relationship with the national PP began to go awry, following the arrival of Mariano Rajoy, replacing Aznar.

“They left because of Álvaro Pérez, because of his personal friendship [with Camps].

He knew the president.

And that's why they decided to make the move.

He was a strong baron in the PP ”.

"Álvaro Pérez only had to do with Camps or did he have other contacts?" the prosecutor asked.

—In principle, the knowledge I had was that [the contact was] direct with Camps.

Then more names came out.

In a conversation between Álvaro and Francisco, the name of Vice President Víctor Campos came up.

And I know that they had good contacts on [Valencian public] television," the witness answered.

"Correa said that Alvarito did what he wanted in Valencia," continued Peñas.

Did he have access to the different

consellers?

"He had access to the order of the Government team, to what was going to be deliberated", the former councilor explained then, who added: "This is very defining of how the plot was intricate within the Government of the Community itself".

In this sense, the exedil has stressed that the objective of the corrupt network was to obtain public contracts: “They wanted to take all the money possible from the administrations and provide the service themselves, trying to eliminate any type of competition.

That they give them [adjudications] in one way or another.”

Peñas has highlighted that the corrupt network got jobs from the Generalitat in "many" big events that were held in the community: "Formula 1, the America's Cup, the Pope's visit...".

On this last matter, the exedil has specified that Pérez won awards after a trip with Camps to Rome: “During that visit the whole issue of contracts was closed and who was going to take some things, and who others.

The plot carried many things.

Among others, one thing that Camps cared a lot about: coordination.

Camps needed a trusted person to coordinate everything.

And for that there was Álvaro”.

“El Bigotes talked about Francisco Camps”

Alicia Mínguez, a former worker at Correa's companies, during her statement in the trial against Camps, this Wednesday.

Before Peñas, four former workers from Correa's companies have sat in court as witnesses.

Among them, Alicia Mínguez, who has explained how within the companies the alleged relationship of El Bigotes with the then Valencian president was

vox populi

.

"He was talking about Francisco Camps and with people from the ministries," the former employee of the plot has detailed: "It was talked about and it was rumored that [the companies in the corrupt network] were going to Valencia because they would have work there."

A version that has been supported by José Javier Nombela, another worker: “There was talk in the office that he had good relations with people from the Generalitat.

Among others, with President Camps”.

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Source: elparis

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