Eduardo Zaplana will ask again today that the start of the trial in the Erial case be postponed due to the heart disease that affects his lawyer, who will not be able to assist the former Valencian president, and he could achieve it. This request was already made by Zaplana last week, when his lawyer, Daniel Campos, was admitted to a hospital, where he remains admitted. But the Valencia Court decided to maintain the scheduled date for the start of an oral hearing in which the previous issues will be addressed today. The former minister also presented a brief on Tuesday in this regard and will try today to argue for the postponement as he cannot count on the assistance of his lawyer.
The so-called Erial Case has Eduardo Zaplana as the main defendant. He faces a prosecutor’s request for a sentence of 19 years in prison. He is accused of having collected and laundered bribes (with purchases of apartments, plots or vehicles) worth more than 20 million euros in ITV and wind farm awards when he was president, in 1997.
He is suspected of having committed the crimes of criminal organization, money laundering, bribery, prevarication and document falsification. Along with the former president, in addition to José Luis Olivas, there will be close collaborators such as Joaquín Barceló (whom they ask for 8 years), Francisco Grau (8), Juan Francisco García (14) or Mitsouko Henríquez (8). Zaplana, who suffers from leukemia, has always defended his innocence.
As reported yesterday by the newspaper Las Provincias, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, the only accusation in the case, has reached an agreement in principle with several defendants.
The oral hearing is scheduled for 30 sessions. Eduardo Zaplana will testify, according to this program, on February 8.
