The president of Iberdrola, Ignacio Sánchez Galán, appears this Tuesday at the National High Court to testify as accused for the successive assignments that for years would have been made to the now retired commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, and he will have to do so by physically going to the judicial headquarters, after about what the investigating judge refused to enable a videoconference before the rebound in infections by Ómicron.
The head of the Central Court of Instruction Number 6, Manuel García-Castellón, icharged Sánchez Galán in June for alleged crimes of active bribery, against privacy and falsity in a commercial document, but it was not until December, once the Criminal Chamber resolved a series of pending appeals, when the day and time was set for his appearance, set for 10:30 a.m. on January 18.
With the start of the year, the president of Iberdrola asked the magistrate to allow him to testify by videoconference, alleging that with the new variant of the coronavirus there is a “greater probability of reinfections” and he belongs to a “at-risk group”.
“My representative (…) has already been extreme for weeks prevention measures for the preservation of his health, with maximum limitation of travel and face-to-face meetings, which have been systematically replaced by telematic meetings,” his defense stated.
However, the court ruled last Friday that no “substantial grounds” to replace the face-to-face statement with a “subsidiary option” such as the videoconference.
“It is not reasoned what interest of utility or convenience for the cause can present the declaration in the exposed terms (…), nor is it alluded to reasons of public order or security as grounds, but only generic references are made to the health situation”, I observe.
round of statements
Thus, Sánchez Galán will have to do the so-called ‘walk‘, although it will not be the only one. For the same Tuesday, the former president of Iberdrola Spain Fernando Becker is summoned, while on the 20th it will be the turn of Iberdrola Renovables.
On Monday, the former counselor-director general of Businesses Francisco Martinez Corcoles and the former chief of staff of the Presidency Rafael Orbegozo, separating himself in both cases from the tasks entrusted to CENYT, the Villarejo business group, according to legal sources consulted by Europa Press.
Orbegozo acknowledged that he endorsed two invoices that the judicial investigations have attributed to CENYT, specifically to the projects ‘Gipsy’ y ‘Posy’, 2009, where the then police would have investigated the president of ACS, Florentino Pérez, and his entourage to prevent the construction company’s assault on the power company.
Questioned about it, whoever was the ‘right hand’ de Sánchez Galán explained that said invoices came to him signed from the corresponding department and that he limited himself to giving a final approval after making a superficial check that would have consisted of verifying that the concept of the same coincided with scheduled issues.
At the insistence of the interrogators, Orbegozo assured that he only learned that Pérez intended to take control of Iberdrola through the press, which earned him the reproach of the judge, who drew attention to the fact that the chief of staff de Sánchez Galán was only aware of these business maneuvers through the media.
Contracts and invoices
García-Castellón suspects that Sánchez Galán and the three former directors were able to participate from their respective positions in the hiring of PRICES T. when Villarejo was still an active member of the National Police Corps, that the invoices generated by these services were manipulated and that confidential data of the persons investigated was accessed.
According to the judicial report, Villarejo’s first project for Iberdrola would have been ‘Arrow’, which would have had the objective of eliminating municipal opposition and environmentalists to the construction of a plant in Arcos de la Frontera (Cadiz).
Between 2004 and 2005 it would have developed ‘Black Board’ o ‘B-B’ to supposedly obtain compromising information about Manuel Pizarro, president at that time of Endesa, Iberdrola’s great rival in the electricity sector.
Already in 2009, Villarejo would have been entrusted with ‘Gipsy’ and ‘Posy’. The first would have consisted of investigating a director of Iberdrola, Jose Maria Alvarez, and a supplier, Francisco Julian Gutierrez suspecting that it could mediate the payment of illegal commissions. With the second project, the commissioner’s investigations would have extended to Álvarez’s relationship with Florentino Pérez.
Finally, in 2011, Villarejo would have dedicated himself to ‘Wind’ to investigate the Swiss company Dobrogea wind farm, to its majority shareholder, Christopher Kaap, and your proxy, Corneliu Dica. Iberdrola Renovables had formed an alliance with the wind company to develop a series of projects in Romania, but over time conflicts arose that ended up being resolved in favor of the Spanish company in an arbitration proceeding.
In the indictment, the judge indicated that, according to Iberdrola’s accounts, it is known that fifteen invoices issued by CENYT between 2004 and 2012 were received and paid for a total amount of 1.04 million.
This separate piece 17, relating to Iberdrola, is one of the more than thirty that make up the ‘Tándem’ macrocause, which investigates the many and varied businesses of Villarejo, who has already sat on the bench because of three jobs (‘Iron’, ‘Land’ and ‘Painter’) for which he faces more than a hundred years in prison.
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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.