The president of the Generalitat, Carlos Mazón, has assured in the plenary session of Les Corts Valencianas that he is going to ask the Generalitat Lawyers to appeal the expiration of the procedures to recover the 170,000 euros collected in subsidies by companies of the brother of former president Ximo Puig and that the procedure for their reinstatement begins again.
In response to a question from the Vox Ombudsman, José María Llanos, about what measures he is going to take to recover the 170,000 euros that the Botànic Government did not claim from Francis Puig for subsidies to his company, Mazón has said that he is going to give two orders to the Attorney General’s Office.
Firstly, he will ask that the expiration of the judicial procedures be appealed so that the Valencians recover the 170,000 euros that “former councilor Vicent Marzà forgave Puig” and secondly “that the refund procedure be started again to demand that they return the money “to all Valencians once and for all.”
The president has indicated that a few weeks ago the file was started to carry out the audits that “will control the waste and irregularities of the Botànic during the 8 years.”
They will be based on reports from independent experts who “say that there were 2,000 people hired without authorization, or they will investigate whether 786 million euros were awarded by hand and without documentation.” Furthermore, he added, “on May 12, the Court of Auditors notified the opening of preliminary proceedings following audit reports on the 2022 accounts of the Generalitat.”
Some reports that “investigate alleged irregularities in the execution of contracts for the provision of health care services.”
In this sense, he has asked the members of the Botànic Government to “stop weaving smoke screens.” Now, he said, “we began to understand why there were so many people on waiting lists for surgery: because they were full of irregularities.”
Also being investigated, he added, are “irregularities in the process of reimbursement of subsidies from the Department of Equality and Inclusive Policies.” That is, “they gave subsidies and did not worry about whether they were returned when the requirements were not met.”
Furthermore, “we were stunned to see how they used public resources to benefit Ximo Puig’s relatives.” The last straw, he added, “was reading in the papers that the reason why they did not demand the reimbursement of irregular subsidies was due to lack of personnel” when it was a Government, he said, “more expensive in history with more advisors and more plugged in and placed.
He spoke about the sentence that “shows that for three or four days, the whole of Comunitat Valenciana has lost 170,000 euros that have gone into the pockets of the friends of the brother of former president Puig.”
The Economic Crimes Unit, the president has indicated, says that subsidies were justified in the Community “with videos of Aragon and Catalonia in Spanish.” “The truth is, Jaume I would be proud to see how the Crown of Aragon still has its roots in Ximo Puig’s brothers.”
For Mazón, it must be taken into account that the companies against which the reimbursement of subsidies was directed not only failed to comply with the requirements to obtain them but also “were already sanctioned by the competition commission in the Valencian Community in 2020, with a fine of 26,000 euros for a very serious infraction, but there were no personnel to pursue it.”
In his question, Llanos (Vox) has assured that those 170,000 euros were not claimed from Puig and “Valencians are tired of so much corruption plot between friends, family and acquaintances of the Botànic” and something that “was the direct responsibility of Marzà who did not brought to the Prosecutor the aid to the partners of Mr. Puig’s brother.”
“Whether there are criminal offenses or not will be decided by justice”, but “Puig’s partners will not have to return to the Generalitat more than 170,000 euros in subsidies for the promotion of Valencian.” A “mistake” in the Puig government was an “open door to escape payment,” according to the Vox representative.
