VALENCIA, Apr. 16 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Cotinos claim that their uncle, former director of the Police, took €640,000 to Luxembourg to pay Zaplana’s front man
Juan Francisco García, former chief of staff of the former president of the Generalitat Valenciana and former minister with the PP Eduardo Zaplana, and the brothers Vicente and José Cotino, businessmen, have confessed the rigging in the public awards of the ITV and have recounted the operation set up to carry out payments as consideration.
García and the Cotino brothers have spoken this way in their statement in the trial being held against them and 12 other people in the Erial case, a procedure in which the alleged collection of more than 10 million euros in derived commissions has been investigated. of ITV concessions and wind farms in the Valencian Community. The fraud is quantified at more than 20 million euros.
García, who faces a prison sentence – as provisionally requested by the prosecutor – of 14 years for money laundering, bribery and falsehood, has indicated that he was signed by Zaplana, a close friend of his, when he joined the Generalitat. He was in public office for two terms, from 1995 to 2002, when he left when Zaplana was appointed Minister of Labor with the PP.
The accused has acknowledged that he participated in the ITV award process since, on the one hand, he was president of the interdepartmental commission to promote the privatization processes and, on the other, he was appointed president of the panel for the file at the proposal of Zaplana.
“Was the award predetermined in favor of a Cotino family firm?” the prosecutor asked him, to which he responded: “Yes.” It all started when the late Juan Cotino, who at that time was director general of the Police, conveyed in a meeting “in the presence of Zaplana” the “special interest” of the Sedesa group in presenting itself and being awarded the lots that were going to be awarded. to propose in the contest.
“This was conveyed to me in January 1997 and from then on I held a series of meetings until May with José Vicente Álvarez – from Sedesa – to review possibilities, the organization and the specifications and conditions of the contest to avoid any circumstance that could make it impossible the presentation of the Sedesa group to the contest”, he explained. “The specifications are prepared so that Sedesa would be in an advantageous situation,” he added.
Asked if he discussed this award with Zaplana, he said: “When Juan Cotino conveyed the interest to me, it was in the presence of Zaplana and then I spoke with him about the issue. I commented with him the day after the award, once the tender was resolved.” , he stated, adding that the members of the adjudication panel acted “with absolute freedom and honesty.”
Once the award was resolved, he added, Juan Cotino told him that they were going to have a 30% stake in the winning company as consideration. “That stayed that way and until 2004 there was no further conversation,” he said.
It was then that, he has indicated, Vicente Cotino told him that at the direction of his uncle, Juan Cotino, the funds corresponding to 30% of the capital gains that the operation had generated were going to be channeled through the Imison company in the name of Joaquín Barceló. , front man and close friend of Zaplana, and of Fenix, in his name, as the last economic beneficiary.
“Did you talk about it with Zaplana?” the public ministry asked him, to which he replied: “Yes, in September 2005 I had a meeting with him, I explained to him what we had done and how it had gone and at no time I referred to him as if those funds were his.
“I am absolutely sorry for certain actions that I have carried out and recognizing the facts and clarifying them in some way serves to repair possible consequences that they may have had,” he stated to clarify that he did not give or transfer two million euros to Zaplana, as Barceló told at the trial. He assured that the ‘former president’ had told him so. “Not at all. And I hadn’t done any business about it either,” he added.
For their part, the brothers Vicente and José Cotino have followed García’s line and have confessed to the rigging on the ITV. Specifically, Vicente Cotino has exposed the creation of two companies in Luxembourg to make payments to the front man of the ‘former president’ and to his former chief of staff.
Vicente Cotino explained during the hearing that his deceased uncle, Juan Cotino, who was president of Les Corts and general director of the Police, told him in 2005 that he had to pay for the “pact” in favor of public awards of the ITV and wind farms. As he has stated, they created two companies in Luxembourg, to which his uncle brought 640,000 euros in cash, to pay Zaplana’s front man Joaquín Miguel Barceló, nicknamed ‘Pachano’, and his former chief of staff Juan Francisco García . And it was done by transferring an amount from the Luxembourg companies to two others: Imison and Fenix.
“Imison was established in 2001 and from then on what Juan Cotino told me was that this had to be in place for the 1997 agreement due to the issue of ITV shares and I asked him who this was for and he told me that moment I will continue to lead the company for an indefinite period of time,” he described. “The payment occurred when in 2005 we transferred the companies with their capital gains internally,” he added.
He has stated that as of the payments and transfer of companies, the management of the same and the participations was “completely” neglected: “Totally.” Next, his brother, José Cotino, has also acknowledged that his uncle told them in 2005 that a series of payments had to be made for the ITV awards because that was what had been agreed upon as consideration.
“FOR EXPENSES OR EVIDENCE”
During the hearing this Tuesday, Zaplana’s former personal secretary, Mitsouko Henríquez, also testified, who has generally defended that she helped Barceló on some issues due to her friendship with Zaplana, “just like other people.” She has also stated that the 50,000 euros that Zaplana seized from her office were for expenses and the purchase of medical items or tests. And regarding the alleged cash withdrawals from the ‘expresident’s’ account, she has indicated that sometimes they were bearer checks.
For his part, another of the accused and owner of a gas station, Francisco Pérez López, nicknamed ‘El Gasofa’, has denied that he paid for a cruise that Zaplana enjoyed with other friends: “I made the arrangements and ordered the transfer of the payment, of 23,000 euros, but then Zaplana returned it to me in two transfers,” he said and denied what he confessed in the investigation.
He has also said that he acquired a boat with Zaplana and other people because they “convinced” him. “I used it several times, three or four, but every time I arrived at the port the boat was in disrepair,” he said and added about its use that the owners “did not agree” to establish a schedule for its enjoyment.
In today’s session, José Luis Olivas, former president of the Generalitat and of Bancaja, also declared, who has disassociated himself from any award of the wind plan when he was a councilor. “That was something that came in the electoral program. I didn’t know the preselected companies at all. I didn’t know who had presented themselves or who had been selected,” he added. “Everything was predetermined by a resolution,” he added.
The last to testify was Carlos Gutiérrez, allegedly linked to the laundering of bites, something he has denied. He has also indicated that his family businesses were “never” awarded by the Valencian Administration and has added that he never gave Zaplana cash.
