The trial for the alleged box b of the PP of Valencia with which, supposedly, the electoral campaigns of 2007 and 2011 were fraudulently financed has been seen for sentencing this Tuesday with the reading of the final reports of the defenses.
All of them consider that there is no evidence to support the accusations against Alfonso Grau, former vice mayor of the city of Valencia and at one time the right-hand man of the former mayor and former senator, Rita Barberá;
the former secretary of the PP municipal group Mari Carmen García Fuster and two officials from entities dependent on the council.
The accusation of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office has focused on the possible commission of the crimes of embezzlement, bribery and falsehood committed around a plot that, through a company, charged concessionaires of the Valencia City Council for work not performed and paid electoral expenses. .
The investigation is part of the so-called
Imelsa case
.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office maintains that, during the trial, it has been proven that the PP of the city of Valencia “committed electoral fraud” because “it increased its budget for the campaigns with money obtained irregularly” and has compared its operation to “the cave of Ali Baba.”
According to the accusation, the municipal group “was the owner of two current accounts;
a legal one in which the subsidies were deposited and another where the secretary, who was paid as an advisor, deposited the commissions, the small corruptions.
It was like Ali Baba's cave, since that account was not subject to any control other than the will of García Fuster."
Anti-corruption considers that the vice mayor concluded a contract with the Laterne company in 2007 that included campaign actions for 150,000 euros, but “that campaign actually cost more than 2.5 million euros.”
“That difference was not contributed by the PP, because we have examined its accounts, nor did Laterne,” said the prosecutor.
“You have to pull the thread and see how Laterne paid its suppliers, and it was in the first place through entities and foundations created by the City Council.
Laterne, a company not well known in Valencia, received very high contracts to carry out modernization or tourism plans” which, according to the accusations, did not translate into any work.
And, thus, several firms awarded works and services from the Consistory entered funds into Laterne accounts for work that they have not been able to accredit.
“It is objective data that none of these companies provided a single justification or invoice.”
In 2011 the operation was very similar but through another company, Trasgos, after the death of the owner of the company used in 2007.
Alfonso Grau's defense argued this Tuesday that if it was the companies that paid the electoral expenses "that has nothing to do with the misappropriation of public funds."
Regarding the accusation of bribery - the former vice mayor was already sentenced to prison for bribery, for accepting as a gift two luxury watches from a businessman with 16 contracts with the City Council - his lawyer has stated that there are no indications that Grau kept any money. .
“If there were indicative elements we would have them in the room, and there is nothing.
What money did Grau keep, how did he do it? ”He said.
For its part, García Fuster's defense argues that she “accumulated and kept donations since 2010 and disposed of them with account deposits or cash payments.
Something logical, reasonable and coherent.
The prosecutor says that the money came from commissions, but he has not identified the commission agents, nor has he detailed when this payment occurred.
We do not know which individuals we are talking about or what facts, since receiving money for a contract is not the same as receiving money for being the secretary of the municipal PP.”