A while ago, the podcast El rey del cachopo came to light, hosted by Pere Cullell and Enrique for La Vanguardia. It is a review of the history of the businessman, journalist, radical political activist, fraudster and alleged murderer, accused of taking the life of his last partner, Heidi Paz. In one of the chapters, titled The Ultra Visionary, we talk about one of César Román’s last attempts to succeed in politics and the scam he carried out on a far-right platform in Catalonia.
The victim of this scam was Josep Anglada, the far-right leader and founder of Plataforma per Catalunya (PxC), who speaks in the podcast about his relationship with Román and the scam he put on him. “I prefer not to face it,” said Anglada. It was in 2004 when the king of cachopo contacted him to expand PxC and reach the capital of Spain, Madrid. So he drove to Vic to convince him.
Anglada liked the businessman’s desire, however, he still had many doubts, as he stated in the aforementioned podcast. In fact, he thought it was not yet time to expand his party. However, Román’s efforts would end up convincing the PxC leaders. “Don’t worry about anything, I will set up the structure here. I know a lot of people, a lot of businessmen. “You don’t have to worry about anything,” the businessman said then. Something that convinced Josep.
After a while, Román called Anglada again and asked her to travel urgently to the capital. “He had set up a headquarters. We in Catalonia, who had councilors, did not have any headquarters. Well, in Madrid they are already ahead of us,” the PxC leader said then, who asked who was paying that expense. “I have some businessmen who, financially, support us,” answered Román.
“I was a little impressed, because there was everything there. Like a great match. But it was all an illusion,” Anglada says years later. Shortly after, Román disappeared from the map. “There was no way, but not at all, to be able to contact César Román,” the Catalan is honest in the interview. It wasn’t until 2014 when he heard his name again.
During the presentation of his new party, Somos identitarios, a person assured him that Román had opened a store near the place. “I prefer not to face it, because things might end badly,” he said then. However, he soon disappeared again. “The police called us to see if we knew anything about him, but the mobile phone didn’t work,” reveals Anglada.
Later, more problems would come, since the PxC never had workers, as the founder revealed, but the Román headquarters had “two or three” paid from their salaries. “Until they came to us to complain about the dismissals of the workers and the debt that there was in Social Security,” he revealed. Nearly 90,000 euros were what he had to pay for his match. “It was very difficult to pursue a person who no one could find,” he said, regarding whether they considered going through the courts.
Right now, as the trial against César Román begins, Anglada feels comfortable. “All bad people get their San Benito and I think it did for César Román. He is going to spend, I think, many years behind bars, because people of this caliber who only invoke, deceive and defraud people, I think the only place they deserve to be is in prison,” he said.
