The ace up his sleeve that former minister Eduardo Zaplana had to try to annul the Erial case has all the ingredients of a John le Carré novel. Two colorful and multi-accused characters, the former commissioner Jose Manuel Villarejo and the money junkie. And a conspiracy explanation with a movie hook to justify the origin of all Zaplana’s judicial problems: A conspiracy of the CNI (National Intelligence Center) in which the top officials of the UCO (Central Operational Unit) of the Civil Guard participate at the request by Mariano Rajoy, with the help of Juan Cotino, to prevent Eduardo Zaplana from overshadowing him. Even the UDEF (Economic and Fiscal Crime Unit) of the Police even thought about participating in the “setup” against Zaplana, according to Villarejo’s story.
It is the summary of the mascletà of statements made yesterday by former commissioner Villarejo, the confessed money junkie Marcos Benavent, summoned as witnesses by Eduardo Zaplana to undermine the prestige of the papers that originated the case against him and for which he faces 19 years in prison. He also finally compared the money junkie’s first lawyer, Ramiro Blasco, cited by Anticorruption.
Former commissioner Villarejo modified the statement he made in the Congress of Deputies in October 2021 to questions from the then deputy and current senator of the PP, José Santamaría (a friend of Zaplana, with whom he met in June of that year). Three years ago Villarejo pointed to “an interest, I don’t know why, on the part of the Socialist Party, to destroy Mr. Zaplana and a Syrian informant was used, a confidence of CNI, to see the formulas for…” The version did not work. Because the answer was misleading. The socialists were not governing when the investigation into Eduardo Zaplana began in 2015 (the PSOE lost the elections in 2011) and Mariano Rajoy continued at the head of the Government when the former minister was arrested on May 22, 2018.
But the conspiracy theory in Villarejo’s mind remains valid. But before the court of the Erial case, the conspiracy against Zaplana’s brilliant career was inspired by Mariano Rajoy, former president of the Government and who managed to prevail over Rodrigo Rato y Zaplana as José María Aznar’s successor. Villarejo declared that he was aware of “efforts aimed at discrediting his client (Zaplana). I said it was not appropriate and I did not want to participate in the issue.” According to Villarejo “there was more interest in his own party (the PP) in discrediting him (Zaplana) than in the PSOE itself. I think it was a mistake to use sensitive topics for serious issues, such as terrorism or independence supporters, but not for people who bother politically, as was the case of Zaplana”. A plot in which Juan Cotino would have been involved “who did everything Rajoy asked of him, who thought that his client (Zaplana) could challenge him for leadership.”
And a plot in which the Syrian citizen who lived in the Zaplana apartment was a key player, who handed over the papers that started the Erial case to the money junkie, Marcos Benavent, who the UCO of the Civil Guard found in the office of his first lawyer. Benavent tried to support the theory that the search was carried out without his consent and that the UCO appropriated personal documents. He pointed to the interest of his former lawyer, “who is leftist” in “slamming the PP, Rus and Zaplana.” He also maintained that he invented that the Syrian’s papers were found in an attic and that he came to testify high and without sleeping, because the UCO forced him to do so.
Details that his first lawyer, Ramiro Blasco, contradicted. The lawyer confirmed that the search in his auxiliary office in Valencia (the main one is in Xàtiva) was agreed with the investigators of the Taula case at the request of Benavent himself, when he was collaborating with the justice system. They delivered twelve boxes of documentation. Six years after taking charge of Benavent’s defense, the money junkie decided to dispense with the services of Ramiro Blasco. “When you decide that I am not your lawyer, you do not have to explain to me. After leaving him, I told him I couldn’t talk to him anymore. But he told me that he did not want to talk about the Taula case and that he wanted to talk to me about the illegality of the Syrian’s papers.“. Lawyer Ramiro Blasco has also indicated that a sister of Marcos Benavent contacted him three weeks ago.. “He told me that if he said that the search of my office was illegal, Marcos would reconcile with me”story.
Three former ministers parade to endorse the ITV and the wind Plan
Three former councilors from Eduardo Zaplana’s Consell paraded yesterday before the court in the Erial case to endorse the contracts of the ITV (Technical Inspection of Vehicles) and the Wind Plan, for which ten million bribes were supposedly collected.
Diego Such (Industry Minister from 1995 to 1999), his successor Fernando Castelló (199-2003) and Fernando Modrego (Environment Minister from 1999 to 2003) compared at the request of Eduardo Zaplana to praise the decision to privatize vehicle inspection and guarantees respect for the legality of the contests. “Privatizing the ITVs was going to be cheaper and more efficient, as was demonstrated,” defended Such, who distanced Zaplana from the administrative process. “He was the president of the Generalitat and we agreed on the need to privatize. Nothing more.” Not even Such got involved. “I dedicated myself to politics and selling what was important, which was privatizing ITV. I had a person inside who told me how everything was going and if there had been something strange he would have told me.”
Regarding the ITV, the auditor who replaced his counterpart at the last minute declared that contract rigging occurs more due to insider information than due to influence at the contracting table. “Pressuring them is not the way.” And the Secretary of Industry who assigned the award criteria to a consulting firm.
Fernando Modrego and Fernando Castelló testified about the wind plan to evaluate the award. Although the engineer who endorsed the preselection report stated that he endorsed it only at the direction of his superior.
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