Suspicion has always been stalking Eduardo Zaplana, since the beginning of his political career. The man who transformed the Valencian PP in the early 90s until it became a hegemonic force for 20 years, and who was key in the Spanish Government, has, however, demonstrated an exquisite ability to avoid all the judicial matters that threatened his political career; from the Naseiro case, access to the Benidorm Mayor’s Office, the Terra Mítica case or the Lezo case, as examples. To, in parallel, build his own myth, an image of a brilliant politician and great strategist, and begin a second life as an expert lobbyist, with a profusion of contacts behind the scenes. But Zaplana, in a few days, will be tried in Valencia for serious corruption crimes. Will he be able to escape unscathed?
The Erial case, as it is called, can put you in prison for many years; and it is reasonable to observe the trial as a partial autopsy of a key era of the Valencian and Spanish PP. Zaplana is accused of allegedly collecting tens of millions of euros in bribes derived from ITV concessions and wind farms in the Valencian Community made in 1997. The prosecutor is asking for 19 years in prison for the crimes of criminal organization, money laundering, bribery, prevarication and documentary falsification. Along with the former president, around twenty people will also be tried, including the former Valencian president José Luis Olivas, and his close collaborators such as Joaquín Barceló (for whom he asks for 8 years), Francisco Grau (8), Juan Francisco García (14) or Mitsouko Henriquez (8). Zaplana, who suffers from leukemia, has always defended his innocence.
Suspicion has always accompanied Eduardo Zaplana, as Francesc Arabí relates in the two books published about the politician: Ciudadano Zaplana: The construction of a corrupt regime and The tentacles of the truhan, the fall of Zaplana and corruption beyond the PP. Even before holding public office. Like when the Naseiro case broke out in 1990, the first serious matter about alleged illegal financing of the Spanish PP. That instruction was tremendously weakened because the judge annulled the recordings and none of the accused was convicted. Eduardo Zaplana continued to be active and also formed a friendship that would help him catapult himself: with José María Aznar.
Suspicion also accompanied Eduardo Zaplana when he won the Benidorm City Council, in 1991. Mayorship that he achieved thanks to a turncoat councilor from the PSOE, Maruja Sánchez, who was hidden for several days in a chalet until the vote was completed in the municipal corporation. In parallel, Zaplana established great alliances with the de facto powers of Valencia, especially with the then director of the newspaper Las Provincias, María Consuelo Reyna, who would support his candidacy to preside over the Valencian PP to replace Pedro Agramunt.
Suspicion was also in the way in which he achieved the presidency of the Generalitat Valenciana, thanks to the so-called Pollo pact; for which the PP and Unión Valenciana, then led by the anti-Catalanite Vicente González Lizondo, signed in the office of Federico Félix, an important Valencian poultry businessman. Zaplana, as president, had a chiaroscuro management. He managed to mitigate major conflicts such as the linguistic one, with the creation, after an agreement between Aznar and Jordi Pujol, of the Valencian Language Academy, AVL; and he deactivated and disentailed, with the help of Rafael Blasco, Unión Valenciana, whose leadership ended up joining the PP. However, his relationship with Rita Barberá was always distant.
But it was also the period in which the new political and social model that his successors would later follow was forged: that of large containers and large events. Manuel Alcaraz, former Valencian councilor and professor of Constitutional Law, explains very well in his book De l’èxit a la crisi how the “Zaplana model” transformed the Valencian administration. He promoted Terra Mítica, a large theme park that was created under suspicion and that ended up in court, with more than twenty people convicted, including his brother-in-law. It cost the Generalitat Valenciana more than 400 million euros and was sold for 65 million. Santiago Calatrava’s City of Arts and Sciences model was reconfigured, with enormous extra costs. And the ruined City of Light of Alicante was created, a mega container for film production that now, after years of conflicts, also with the European Union, has recovered. Furthermore, he managed to intervene in the Savings Banks and began the privatization of public healthcare with the so-called “Alzira model”, which the Botànic government reversed.
Zaplana was always an ambitious man, and he wanted to reach the sky of national politics with the help of José María Aznar. In 2002 he left the presidency of the Generalitat Valenciana to join as Minister of Labor of the Spanish Government, and entered into a tough fight with Francisco Camps for remote control of the Valencian PP. The relationship between the two was disastrous in those years, and worsened when Mariano Rajoy became leader of the PP. Rajoy and Zaplana never had good harmony. The former president understood that his political career had ended.
After politics he moved to private business, to Telefónica, where he could establish private relationships with the leading men of the Spanish economy. His ability allowed him to test all types of businesses. He founded the consulting firm Decuria Consulting, S.L, for real estate promotion and sporting events. Suspicion accompanied him due to the relationship of his daughter, Rosa María, with shady dealings of Jordi Pujol’s youngest son, Oleguer. Judge Eloy Velasco linked him to money laundering operations with the former Madrid president, Ignacio González, with the Isabel II channel as a field of operations.
Until now, Zaplana has managed to avoid all the shady issues that threatened to affect him. Meanwhile, the majority of his successors have been dragged by suspected corruption, such as José Luís Olivas, Francisco Camps (pending sentence) and the majority of leaders of the Valencian PP who, such as José Joaquín Ripoll, former president of the Alicante Provincial Council, They were faithful. The trial will begin in a few days, and the expectation will be enormous. It is the judgment of an era.
