He insists that he only “threw the pisto” but assures that he met with Moratinos and collaborated with the CNI
MADRID, 7 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Francisco Nicolás Gómez Iglesias, known as ‘Little Nicolas’, has denied that he posed as a member of the Government to defraud businessman Javier Martínez de la Hidalga in the sale of a farm located in Toledo called ‘La Alamedilla’, as as the Prosecutor’s Office maintains in the indictment in which it claims six years in prison for the young man.
Gómez Iglesias has defended that, although in 2014 he carried folders from the Royal House and the Presidency to throw “the pisto” and “draw attention”, he did not pose as a member of the Executive, then led by Mariano Rajoy, to defraud Martínez of the Hidalgo. Of course, he has said to have “collaborated with the National Intelligence Center (CNI)”, although he has not specified in what cases.
On the sale of the farm, he has assured that he worked as an intermediary at the request of the businessman. According to him, he had planned to take 5% of the operation, if it closed at 15 or 18 million euros. He has insisted, however, that when he was arrested he was unable to continue his services.
Francisco Nicolás has assured that in that period he came to meet former Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos at a meal. “He was explaining to me that the Government of Equatorial Guinea was planning to have a property here in Spain,” he indicated, while pointing to the Guinean authorities as potential clients in the sale of the Martínez de la Hidalga property.
The young man has recognized that — as the Prosecutor’s Office defends — he received 25,000 euros from the businessman. But he has defended that he went for “provisions and expenses” for his intermediation in the ‘La Alamedilla’ operation. He has also underlined that he returned said amount to Martínez de la Hidalga, for which he has maintained that there was no fraud.
Gómez Iglesias has also distanced himself from the alleged documentary falsehood. Asked about the documents that were seized from him with government letterheads and logos, he assured that “they had no use.” “They were for me to have,” he said.
The defense has insisted that “at first glance the gross falsehood is visible”, so it is an “innocuous document”.
Within the framework of the session, Gómez Iglesias has specified that, aside from the 25,000 euros he received and the operation related to the sale of the farm, the businessman was trying to close a millionaire operation with foreign investors.
As he has said, Martínez de la Hidalga himself asked him for “help” to convince his wife, who was opposed to contributing the money to carry out said operation. The Prosecutor’s Office, during its final conclusions, has reproached Gómez Iglesias for introducing “new elements” in the procedure, since until now the case has been limited to the fraud in the context of the sale of ‘La Alamedilla’.
The Public Ministry believes that the young man posed as a member of the Vice Presidency of the Government to try to get hold of the 300,000 euros that were in the account that the businessman had with his wife, but that –as he could not– he asked for 25,000 euros in cash, which is what they allowed him to withdraw.
The prosecutor has insisted that “there is no data that the accused had or has function with the Spanish State.” And he has assured that “the will” of the young man “was clear”. “He wanted to get money”, he pointed out after influencing that Gómez Iglesias did not carry out any management for the sale.
The Prosecutor’s Office and the State Attorney’s Office have confirmed that they are asking for ‘Little Nicolás’ six years in prison for alleged crimes of fraud, false documents and usurpation of public functions. The prosecutor, in addition, has ratified his request for special disqualification for passive suffrage and a fine of 18,000 euros. The popular accusation of Podemos has maintained its request for 12 years in prison.
As part of his defense strategy, Gómez Iglesias’ lawyer –Juan Carlos Navarro– has rescued one of the expert reports that ‘Little Nicolás’ used in one of his previous trials to allege that he suffers from “a personality disorder with narcissistic and immature traits”. Two experts have ratified this Monday the content of said report, but have specified that this condition “does not have any type of cognitive consequence.”
The experts have explained that “personality disorder leads the person who expresses it to have a very high sense of self-confidence, the need to attract attention, to feel important”, although they have clarified that “it does not condition the ability to understand or know what you’re doing.
As they have indicated, those who suffer from this disorder “know perfectly well what is right and what is wrong.” In the specific case of this procedure, the experts have stressed that the acts committed to carry out a scam “cannot be considered impulsive”, since they “require reflection” and “planned and organized behavior”.
This Monday, a specialist who has treated Gómez Iglesias in the past has also appeared. She has assured that the defendant has a chronic personality disorder that does not take away his ability to understand, but it does limit his ability to make decisions. “He may think he’s wrong, but he can’t help but get into that situation,” she explained.
The Provincial Court of Madrid has resumed this Monday the trial against Gómez Iglesias with the statement of Rosana Ferrero, the wife of Martínez de la Hidalga. As a witness, she has confirmed that she met with Gómez Iglesias in a hotel in Madrid in October 2014.
“(Francisco Nicolás) wanted my money and I told him that I was not going to give him any money,” he said, while specifying that he was blunt with the young man: “I don’t know what you have talked about with my husband, but my money I will not give it to you”.
The witness has reported that they called her from the bank to notify her that her husband had gone to the entity with “a young boy” to collect some money. And she has assured that she herself alerted her partner: “Javier, that boy seems to be a fraud. Give you the money back.”
Within the framework of her statement, she has indicated that she did not know what Francisco Nicolás was going to do with the 25,000 euros that they took from the bank, but she has indicated that when her husband asked the young man for the money, he “returned it.” “I can’t think badly of him either,” she said.
Even so, the woman has assured that she mistrusted. “He was a very young boy. How does he have all those friends? I didn’t understand it. I never believed it. But Javier does believe everything, he is a very good person,” she said. It should be remembered that Martínez de la Hidalga himself said in the previous session that he saw ‘Little Nicolás’ as a “precocious genius.”
This Monday, a driver of high-end vehicles who worked for Gómez Iglesias in October 2014 has also appeared. Asked if he knew what the accused was doing, he assured that his job was to be discreet and that his conversations did not go beyond how was the weather.
The man has indicated that the service provided to Francisco Nicolás “was not very different from how other official services were”. He has explained that he has had clients who have used police rotary, because he has worked for embassies and has done caravan services with escorts. But he has assured that he does not remember if he used said newspapers with Gómez Iglesias.
After the three sessions held in recent weeks, the court has left the trial seen for sentencing. Now, the Provincial Court of Madrid must resolve whether, as the Prosecutor’s Office maintains, ‘Little Nicolás’ committed alleged crimes of fraud, usurpation of functions and false documentation.
