Up to three times the general secretary of the Diputación, Amparo Konincx, affirmed it before the court that is judging alleged compromises in the award of the Vega Baja waste plan. It did not matter whether or not those who opted for the contest had land to install the macro dump, in fact it was not even required as a requirement to present it, “because that is what the Administration’s expropriation capacity is for,” he said. And he even thought he remembered that it had been raised by the successful bidder.
The statement of the official in the session this Thursday, cited as a witness and who in the years that go back to the events that are being prosecuted was secretary of the Zonal plan consortium, debunked the explanation that the UTE formed by Enrique Ortiz and Cespa, which won the contract, had to resort to the land that the businessman Ángel Fenoll had in Torremendo (when the most valued option had been that of Albatera) due to the refusal of the owner of the Lo Cartagena estate, also located in the district of Orihuela, although in another point of the same, to sell the land that they had pledged.
The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office maintains that, once Cespa-Ortiz won the contest, the then president of the Provincial Council, José Jaoquín Ripoll, pressured them to buy the land from Fenoll, very close to the PP, thus compensating him for having stayed out of the business of the rubbish as his proposal had been rejected.
The official confirmed that the most valued offers were the three from Cespa-Ortiz, that the change from Albatera to Torremendo “was justified because it was in the epicenter of all the towns that had to be served and it was cheaper” and added that “The final solution was approved but the transitory one was left for later because nobody wanted it. That is a political issue, I no longer know what happened, “he said.
The public accusation interprets the delay in giving the green light to the provisional plant as a way of putting pressure on the UTE, since with it it could generate income until the definitive one was ready.
To questions from Ripoll’s defense, the lawyer Bernardo del Rosal, Konincx declared that he had not detected any illegality nor had the president of the Provincial Council, who at the same time chaired the Zonal plan consortium, asked him to do anything irregular. He ruled out that there were unjustified delays (“the deadlines were normal, without delays, what happens is that there were many procedures,” he said) and once again referred to the change of location from Albatera to Torremendo “for the public interest and because Murcia I did not want to be so close to a landfill that was from Alicante».
Regarding the 10% increase in the canon that this change entailed, the official specified when asked by Francisco Ruiz Marco, Ortiz’s lawyer, that this increase never materialized. She also insisted that the opinions of the technical commission were followed and that no one ever pressured her to do something they shouldn’t.
Ortiz to his partner in Cespa: «The president called me, to speak with Fenoll about the purchase of the plot»
On December 22, 2008 there is a meeting of the consortium where important issues such as the final location of the waste plant will be resolved after Albatera was discarded, despite being the most valued. From the following conversation between Enrique Ortiz and his partner at Cespa, Javier Llansó, (the winners) the Police conclude that the president of the Diputación, Joaquín Ripoll, would have conditioned the final approval on Ángel Fenoll, akin to the PP, receiving at least the first million euros and his Torremendo estate will be bought in compensation for not having won the contract.
Henry Ortiz: I’ll tell you, the president called me telling me that today the final change of location and the temporary change of location were going to be approved, that he please talk to this man, with Fenoll, to finalize the agreement on the purchase of the plot , so and so, because he should have been paid an amount 5 months ago and we did not pay him the million euros because it was not definitively approved.
Javier Llansó: Okay, when is the consortium meeting? today?
IT’S THE: The consortium meeting is today, but I had a meeting this morning, that’s why I was calling you, because I had to commit or not, in which this man says he wants to be given the million, the million…
J. LL.: It depends on the guarantees that I have that it is approved or not.
IT’S THE: Okay, this afternoon they will approve it. I have proposed giving him a one million promissory note at the end of January so that, if they approve it this afternoon, he will be paid. If they don’t approve it, the person who keeps the deposit would not give it to them.
J. LL.: Let’s wait and see what happens today and…
IT’S THE: No, it’s that if not, they don’t approve, it’s that they have conditioned me like this
J. LL.: Get out as you can…
IT’S THE: Yes, but how is it possible? Do we give you a promissory note?
J. LL.: Well, they don’t approve it, what do you want me to tell you. I don’t spend a penny on land that I don’t know if it’s approved, if it’s going to go there or not.
IT’S THE: No, but let’s see, the payment is conditional on approval, if it is not approved, the check is not delivered.
J. LL.: Well, so wait.
IT’S THE: I can say whatever, but what is our strategy? Because I have to know where we are
J. LL.: Enrique, that we have all the (illegible), all the licenses and all the permits to be able to invest there.
IT’S THE: Yeah, but listen, they’re not going to give us all the permits until we’re in an egg and this man won’t be able to wait.
J. LL.: The project approved with the change of location. You blame me and that’s it.
IT’S THE: We’ll see. The change of authorization that goes today is definitive, right? They answer the allegations, okay, they have not estimated any.
J. LL.: I don’t know very well what they are going to approve today, nobody has told me.
IT’S THE: They are going to approve the transitory one that you and I were talking about and the definitive location.
J. LL.: Okay, so we’ll talk tomorrow or this afternoon, when they’ve done it.
IT’S THE: Okay, but this guy. He tells me that if not, that they are going to cause him problems, I tell you what the president told me, then some step will have to be taken here. What I’m telling you is you can give a deposit to a person…
J. LL.: The answer is no.
IT’S THE: Not until it’s approved.
J. LL.: Exactly, blame me. There is no problem.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.