VALENCIA
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“Despite the 388 pages of Civil Guard report there is not a single paragraph that concludes that the amount obtained irregularly exceeds 120,000 euros. It is the exact phrase, pronounced by the Minister of Justice, Gabriela Bravo, this Thursday in the Valencian Courts, that the PP is going to transfer to the courts. The formation has announced that it will present a brief before the Court of Instruction number 4 of Valencia, which investigates the alleged subsidy fraud and documentary falsehood of the brother of Ximo Puig, considering that the Consell is having access to secret information.
“It is evident from these statements by Mrs. Bravo that she has had access to the report issued by the Economic Crimes Unit of the Civil Guard in the exercise of the functions of the Judicial Police, mandated by this Court and within this instruction, being that said report, like all the documents in the proceedings, is protected by the secrecy of the investigation against all those who are not parties.
It is unknown who could have facilitated access to that document, “indicates the complaint signed by the popular deputy Eva Ortiz.
These statements have occurred in the framework of a tense parliamentary debate between Ortiz, whose complaint gave rise to the legal case, and the head of Justice. Precisely this week there have been the statements of the two main defendants in court.
The deputy has criticized that the Legal Office of the Generalitat has not appeared in the case despite the “loss of public money” that is taking place and has asked the reason why Francis Puig’s partner -the also accused Juan Enrique Adell Bover, administrator of Canal Maestrat and Kriol- has been opened seven aid reimbursement files, while the brother of the regional president has not been asked to return any amount. “I don’t want to think that the Puig surname weighs too much in this matter,” Ortiz asserted.
In her response, Gabriela Bravo has defended that Francis Puig “has come out unspoiled” from the controls made to the audiovisual production companies that it manages -Comunicacions dels Ports and Mas Mut Produccions-, and “that is why there has been no claim”.
In reference to the appearance of the Generalitat in the case, Bravo has stressed that «there are more than reasonable doubts on the commission of the crime of fraud in subsidies, since the type requires that the amount irregularly obtained exceed 120,000 euros, a fact that the Civil Guard has not been able to conclude after two years and such a lengthy report”, referring to the document of the Economic Crimes Unit that revealed up to four types of irregularities in the justification of the expenses for the aid -for more than 1.2 million euros- that these merchants received between 2015 and 2018 from the Valencian, Catalan and Aragonese governments in different calls.
In this sense, he recalled that the Prosecutor’s Office has requested two audits from the Intervention of the Valencian and Catalan Generalitat to accurately quantify the money allegedly defrauded and decide whether or not the process should continue through criminal channels. The reference to the report of the Judicial Police by Bravo has generated a stir in the popular caucus, whose deputies questioned him – without having the use of the word – how it was possible that he had access to that information. “Because I read the newspapers, like you”has responded the consellera.
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George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism