Carlos Mazón, Cuca Gamarra and José Vegara, in a Twitter image of the PP of Orihuela, during the visit of the parliamentary spokesperson on April 21.
The Popular Party candidate for mayor of Orihuela (Alicante, 84,568 inhabitants), José Vegara, will sit on a bench after the opening of an oral trial in which the Prosecutor's Office accuses him of a continued crime of falsifying a commercial document and two crimes against the Treasury for VAT fraud and corporate tax, crimes for which the public prosecutor requests for Vegara and three other people seven years in prison and a fine of more than 5.2 million euros per head, plus joint compensation of 1.1 million, the amount allegedly defrauded from the public treasury plus default interest.
Despite the accusation, PPCV sources insist that "there are no forecasts of change" in the Oriolan lists of the municipal elections, whose registration period ends tonight at 00:00.
"Pepe Vegara will be the candidate",
According to the prosecutor's brief, Vegara orchestrated together with the other three defendants "an illegal plan to create deductible expenses through the formalization of a contract for the sale of advertising agendas and the issuance of different invoices."
Through these "defrauding and fraudulent maneuvers and deductions" used in the management of the ITV of Vega Baja -the Alicante region of which Orihuela is the capital- the Prosecutor's Office points out that the benefits decreased "considerably" and, therefore, also the payments of corporate tax.
The prosecution's calculations indicate that the Treasury stopped receiving 760,591.12 euros for this tax in 2005 and 157,396.80 for VAT.
The alleged accounting trap had some of the most innocent protagonists, some simple agendas, indicate the investigations of the public ministry.
According to the same document, Vegara and his two partners from the Estación ITV company contacted the fourth defendant, from whom they bought "a total of 100,000 ITV advertising agendas" to give them away to customers.
The agreed price for these present was 17 euros.
However, all those involved knew "the unreality and mendacity of this price", points out the Prosecutor's Office, since in reality they were sold at 1.31 euros per unit.
Luis Fernando Cartagena, José Manuel Medina, Mónica Lorente and Emilio Bascuñana, mayors of the PP of the Alicante municipality of Orihuela.
With this accusation, in the event that Vegara finally contests the elections on May 28 and manages to seize the leadership of Orihuela, the candidate appointed by the regional president of the PP, Carlos Mazón, would become the fifth mayor. from the Alicante municipality who sits on the bench.
They are all those who have held office under the acronym of the PP after the implantation of democracy.
Luis Fernando Cartagena began this path, sentenced to eight years in prison for appropriating 48,000 euros collected by some nuns for social aid.
Subsequently, José Manuel Medina and Mónica Lorente were included in the massive Brugal
corruption scheme
, from which they were acquitted after the judge declared illegal the wiretaps that incriminated them.
Despite this, Medina was sentenced for prevarication and Lorente, for signing a works contract for a plaza 17 days after its inauguration.
The last popular mayor of Oriola, Emilio Bascuñana, has a trial pending for alleged misappropriation of public funds.
In a statement made today in Orihuela, Vegara has acknowledged the opening of a trial, although he blames the crimes on a company error.
Last Friday, April 21, during his coming-out, in which he was sponsored by Mazón and by the general secretary of the PP, Cuca Gamarra, he claimed that he thought the case "had been filed."
The popular regional leader, next to him, opined that what was still just an investigation consisted of "an accounting matter" unrelated to "corruption or the exercise of any public office."
In that appearance, asked about the case that an oral trial was opened, as the Orihuela 3 Investigation Court has finally decreed, Mazón ruled that the PP statutes "are clear and are the same as always."
Nevertheless,