“They told me that it was money from Zaplana and the family. I was a friend, I did favors for him. If that is called a front man, then a front man.” This statement by Joaquín Barceló, one of the accused in the Erial case, directly points to the former minister and former president of the Generalitat Valenciana as responsible for the plot and owner of the money that he denied yesterday having outside of Spain.
“I don’t know if I have been from the PP, I have been a follower of Eduardo Zaplana,” Barceló stated at the beginning of his statement; “I have known Zaplana for 50 years. We have always been friends.”
In his statement, Barceló has ratified the accusation’s thesis and has described himself as a “friend” who limited himself to following Zaplana’s instructions, direct or expressed by his trusted people. For example, about an account in Andorra: “The five million euros were given to me by Francisco Grau (another of the accused, the financial ‘brain’, according to Barceló), which was money from Zaplana, who needed an intermediary. I don’t know how got there.”
Barceló says that, although they deposited the money into his personal account, “they told me that the money belonged to Zaplana’s businesses.” He has also acknowledged having traveled to Luxembourg “on the Cotino plane”, to take over a company (Imilson), at the request of the former president of the Generalitat, and has assured that it was Zaplana who introduced him to the Uruguayan lawyer Fernando Belhot – whose statement is key in the case – “to replace me in the management of the companies.”
Barceló, whom Zaplana appointed General Director of Tourism in his first government and later put in charge of the Institutional Relations of Terra Mítica, declared today: “The money was not mine. I find out everything when the UCO comes into my hands. home. And I found out that there were six million. I told them there were only 2.5 million.”
“Pachano” claims to have always trusted “in Mr. Francisco Grau. I have signed everything he has put in front of me. I did not give him instructions of an economic nature.” “I discovered that there are Panamanian companies in my name when Belhot gave me documentation. The first powers were given to me by Zaplana. But I never made use of those powers,” the accused declared.
In the absence of knowing how his statement and the rest of the trial concludes, the agreement that some defendants would have reached with the Prosecutor’s Office seems to be confirmed; an agreement and statements that represent an undoubted setback for the interests of Eduardo Zaplana. “I signed because everything seemed legal to me. Grau told me that it was legal money and that everything was correct,” Barceló summarized his attempt to limit his responsibility.
Regarding the purchase of the apartment in Nuñez de Balboa, a luxury property in Madrid, “it was decided by Don Eduardo, he preferred it to be in my name. That way he is calmer. He asks me and I will do it,” he explained. Barceló also acknowledges having given bearer checks to Zaplana’s nephew so that he could deliver them to his sister.
And as for his own will, which plans to distribute part of his assets in the companies investigated, he has signed that it was drafted by Francisco Grau, and that neither he nor Zaplana “have given him explanations about that document.”
After responding to the prosecutor, Joaquín Barceló has availed himself of his right not to answer the questions of the defense lawyers of Zaplana and Francisco Grau.
