The former Valencian president faces a request for two and a half years in prison by Anti-Corruption
MADRID, 7 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The former president of the Generalitat Valenciana Francisco Camps “calmly” faces his statement this Wednesday in the trial that is being followed in the National Court for the alleged irregularities in the award to Orange Market, one of the companies in the ‘Gürtel’ plot, of the contract for the Valencian exhibitor of the Fitur 2009 edition.
Camps, who is facing a request for two and a half years in prison by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor, assured this Tuesday in statements to the media that “there is absolutely nothing” that could lead to a conviction while recalling that the nine legal proceedings in which he has been involved to date have been archived.
The former regional president maintains that his statement in this oral hearing comes at a “much better than expected” moment after “all the people in the administration” have said “that they acted correctly in their hiring and that they did not know in absolutely no kind of relationship” between him and one of the ringleaders of the plot: Álvaro Pérez, alias ‘El Bigotes’.
That, in his opinion, has left “any strategy broken” by the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor who, from his point of view, is “trying to link the contracts with any type of relationship” with the leaders of the Gürtel.
“We’ll see tomorrow but let’s not forget it. The Prosecutor’s Office has decided that they have given me suits, that I had organized a harmful system, that I had contracted with Calatrava, launched ‘Nóos’, who had been president of the foundation of the visit of the Pope for spurious purposes or that a Formula 1 circuit was built to give money to the PP* We are talking about something very, very serious,” he criticized.
Camps, who has been criticizing the Public Ministry in its different interventions throughout the trial, has assured that he is “one more citizen to whom the Prosecutor’s Office has been accusing all kinds of irregularities for 14 years.”
Despite this, Camps has insisted that he is “calm” after the different positions of the Generalitat have stressed that they had not received “indication” from him to award Orange Market. “The Gürtel group also said that it did not have a strange relationship with the administration but it changed its version three years ago: there they are with their conscience”, he has settled.
His statement before the court presided over by magistrate José Antonio Mora is also preceded by different extra-procedural anecdotes. The judge himself has had to call Camps’ attention on different occasions due to his fuss and comments during the interrogation of other defendants.
These events led Mora to ask him to occupy the first row of the defendant’s bench to ensure order in the Chamber. The former president, however, asked him to take a place next to his lawyer wearing a toga and asserting his status as his lawyer, a request that was accepted.
The former leader of the PP also starred in a dispute with the leader of the Gürtel, Francisco Correa, whom he reproached for his statement in the trial. “You are a son of a bitch,” Camps directed him, who was especially upset by Correa’s confession, who confessed the facts.
The statement of the former Valencian president will be the last in this oral hearing, which will delve into the witnesses and documentary evidence from next March 21.
