The Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard compiles in a new report the “personal relationships” of the lawyer José María Corbín – brother-in-law of the former mayor of Valencia, now deceased, Rita Barberá, and who is one of those investigated in the Azud case – with several councilors in governments of the former ‘popular’ mayor. The documentation brings together various messages that were exchanged with them regarding contracts “at the expense of” the City Council.
The investigators have sent to the Investigative Court number 13 of Valencia, which is in charge of this case, a report on the actions carried out by Corbín in which they focus especially on the line followed with respect to the Cyes Group, in addition to expanding a previous analysis made in 2019.
In this document, to which Europa Press has had access, the UCO dedicates a section to Corbín’s “personal relationships” with the Valencia City Council. Specifically, it reproduces messages with six councilors during Rita Barberá’s mandate: Alfonso Grau, Cristóbal Grau, Félix Crespo, Alfonso Novo, Jorge Bellver, Ramón Isidro Sanchis, as well as with the current deputy secretary general of the Valencia City Council, José Antonio Martínez Beltrán .
Regarding Alfonso Grau, the UCO recalls that his relationship with Corbín has already been the subject of analysis in different lines of investigation of the case, especially those related to the Axis Group, but mentions the content of one of the mobile phones seized at the time. lawyer in which several text messages have been located relating to meetings with Jaime Febrer – a businessman investigated in the case – about VPO, “precisely” – the unit emphasizes – one of Axis’ business lines.
“Alfonso, how are you? Tell me when I can see you. Jaime Febrer would come. VPO topic. A big hug,” he writes. In summary, the UCO believes that this type of SMS “evidence” how Corbín is in charge of putting Febrer in contact, who at that time was making payments to Corbín “within the framework of different contractual relationships, with charges to the Valencia City Council.” .
The Judicial Police have also located communications between Corbín and Cristóbal Grau, Sports councilor between 2007 and 2019 in the interest of the cause and who currently holds the position of chief of staff of the mayor. Some messages, the report notes, “respond to the intention of one of them to hold personal meetings,” but it also points out that the link between the two “is related to the activity of the City Council.”
“After the success of F1, do we succeed in something else? A hug,” wrote Corbín, who insisted: “Don’t you tell me anything? A hug.” Finally, the response was: “There is nothing new. I tell you, a hug.”
With Félix Crespo – former delegate of Festivals, Popular Culture and Heritage – the researchers highlight a message in which the agents believe they could talk about the scale of a public contract in the bidding phase, while with Alfonso Novo (who served as Councilor for Transport) only refer to a series of communications that they describe as “decontextualized.”
In the case of Jorge Bellver – who is currently general director of Relations with Les Corts -, the report focuses on his time as mayor of Urban Planning and understands relevant messages such as the one dated February 2009, when Corbín told him He told the ex-dil “remember to talk to the boss”, a nickname that the UCO associates with Rita Barberá.
He also highlights another from March 2010: “Jaime Febrer proposes a solution for Levante UD. Alfonso and Cristóbal already know it. We will tell you whenever you want.” To this, the councilor responds: “.. Regarding the other thing, I’m talking about something with Levante. I’ll tell you…”.
For the UCO, these messages are relevant given that they “are directly related” to an urban planning operation that Febrer intends to develop and that “includes the City Council,” they maintain.
With Ramón Isidro Sanchis, in charge of the Comprehensive Water Cycle, among other delegations, the report only talks about two SMS, from May 2010, both related to the processing of a file within the council. “Ramón. Exp. Activities 03901-2009-2755. Will it take a long time to be resolved? Tell me something. A hug. Pepe Corbín.”
Finally, in July 2014, Corbín asked Martínez Beltrán to see himself “outside the house”, something that the agents identified with being outside the City Hall. At this point, the UCO recalls that in his witness statement, Marínez said that he had seen Corbín three times that he could remember, once in the mayor’s office, another in a judicial statement and the last time at a wake.
On the other hand, in the report – of more than 120 pages – the Civil Guard insists that there are indications of cash commissions. Initially, he recalls, the case focused on the investigation and analysis of the payments received by Corbín Abogados from certain companies or groups that had business interests with the Valencia City Council.
This is due, he adds, to the fact that, based on different elements, “it is inferred that these payments would actually correspond to illicit commissions disbursed in response to various public awards or administrative decisions carried out by the Valencia City Council.”
“The investigation carried out throughout this investigation,” they insist, “has made it possible to gather numerous indications in this sense and which are added to those already existing. Likewise, no elements have been revealed that disprove this hypothesis, despite the large number of procedures carried out”.
With respect to the collection of these alleged commissions, the UCO concludes that for the collection of the commissions the dynamic followed would consist of having agreed on the amount of the commission and, after this, determining that a part of it be paid in cash and, remaining, through billing with the Corbín Abogados firm.
In this sense, he gives concrete examples. One of them would be the Los Hornillos UTE, which was awarded a public contract by the EMTRE in 2005 for the construction and management of a waste plant. According to the report, the amount that, as a consequence of the above, this UTE had to pay José María Corbín amounted to 2,250,000 euros (€1,800,000 through contracting (15,000 euros/month x 12 months x 10 years) and 450,000 in cash.
Circumstances that arose later, according to Benemérita, caused this form of payment to be altered, with Corbín Abogados having invoiced only €705,000 (VAT not included), instead of the €1,800,000 initially agreed upon. This could have had the consequence, always according to the report, of him receiving cash compensation for the rest of the amount.
Finally, the dossier provides documentation related to Corbín’s alleged commission of alleged tax fraud. This is a series of handwritten notes from the years 2015 and 2016 in which the following are included as options to “apparently reduce the payment of taxes”: “Make a tax to someone who is deceased or to a company without activity” or ” to make a reform bill for 60,000 VAT would cost anyone to pay VAT of 12,600.”
