The former general director of Iqoxe, José Luis Morlanes, yesterday, in his statement as investigated before the investigating judge, shook off all responsibility in the explosion of one of the plant’s reactors on January 14, 2020, with three people dead and Serious affectation outside the Tarragona petrochemical estate. No responsibility and zero personal self-criticism as the person in charge then of the firm or of the company. “Iqoxe prioritized security over benefits,” said Emilio Zegrí, his defense attorney.
Asked about the causes of the accident, Morlanes, who only answered questions from the judge, the prosecutor and his defense, validated the report from the Institut Químic de Sarrià (IQS), prepared at the request of Iqoxe. The problem lay, as Morlanes insisted, in the component (mpeg 500) that caused the devastating explosion, because “it was not considered a dangerous product in any world industry or competent administration.” Based on this, the former director of Iqoxe, in a statement that lasted almost six hours, said that they could not do anything to prevent the explosion, with an impact radius of three kilometers, causing the death of a neighbor who was in his flat. , in the Torreforta neighborhood.
The judicial investigation of the Iqoxe case is one step away from closing the investigation phase, waiting for the head of security and the director of the damaged plant in La Canonja to declare today and tomorrow. The statements of Morlanes and of the two managers of the factory, investigated for three crimes of reckless homicide, come at the request of the defenses. The magistrate must now decide if she sends the Iqoxe directors to trial or archives the case through criminal proceedings.
