Everything responded to a “preconceived” plan by Eduardo Zaplana to be able to divert illicit commissions paid by the successful bidders of the ITV and the wind farms; commissions of 10 million euros that would end up in the pockets of the former president with an operation in which friends, front men and tax havens intervened. This was stated yesterday by the prosecutor in the Erial case, Pablo Ponce, in his final conclusions report in which he included a harsh allegation against the accused whom he reproached for his “lack of honesty” in not assuming his responsibility in the rigging and for “using to so many friends” for his own benefit.
A report of conclusions in which the prosecutor reduced the request for a sentence for Zaplana from 19 to 17 years in prison by removing the crime of falsehood, but maintained those of membership in a criminal group, money laundering, bribery, and prevarication. In addition, it drastically reduced the sentencing requests for the “repentant” who have reached an agreement in accordance with the prosecution: his former chief of staff, Juan Francisco García; his friend and front man Joaquín Barceló and the brothers Vicente and José Cotino, nephews of Juan Cotino. And he also reduced the request for a sentence for former president José Luis Olivas.
In his account of the facts, the prosecutor, who focused part of his intervention on the operation to award the ITVs, stated that “under Zaplana’s decision, the necessary conditions are being created to obtain a profit.” Awards that were made, following Zaplana’s decision, to the company owned by the family of Juan Cotino, former Valencian councilor and former director general of the Police. “No written documentary justification has been found to privatize the ITVs,” he added in his argument.
He stressed that the “fixing” was carried out while the specifications were being prepared. “This was done before, when the specifications were prepared or in meetings with bidding companies. With all the information obtained there, the conditions were drawn up and taken to the Contracting Board. Everything was already decided there.”
The prosecutor drew attention to the fact that in the middle of this adjudication, the auditor who initially participated in the process was removed. He warned about the economic valuation, which was no longer objective, and he was fired two days before the Contracting Board awarded the contract. “They notified him two days before that he had to be replaced by another. And who signed his dismissal? The then Minister of Economy, José Luis Olivas, (who would later be president of the Generalitat Valenciana and, later, president of Bancaja). ”It was done in a fine way about the only person who questioned the criteria and who had disputes with the president of the Board. He was changed by unilateral decision so that there were no problems.”
In his story, the prosecutor stated that after the award “the commission had to be paid.” That was the role of Juan Cotino, according to the accusation, who traveled to Luxembourg with 640,000 euros in cash to establish two companies through a fiduciary. “Through them, and through other companies and participations, the money was distributed and re-entered Spain with the purchase of real estate and other belongings.” When the purchases and sales of shares were recorded, “Zaplana had precisely noted meetings with Juan Cotino in his diaries,” the prosecutor has warned. “The transmission and investment machinery was then activated and Zaplana put other people in the companies to manage it.”
And later, according to the prosecutor’s account, he contacted the businessman Fernando Belhot to transfer the funds and obtain greater profitability, the public ministry recalled. “And it was Zaplana’s money, even though he did not appear in anything, because the person Belhot met with to manage his money was with Zaplana.” The prosecutor concluded: “In the end, Zaplana was the beneficiary of all the investments. “It was the center of all profit and all financial operations.”
