Judge José de la Mata has agreed to reopen the case that investigates the existence

Judge José de la Mata has agreed to reopen the case that investigates the existence of a 'B' Box of the Popular Party, considering that the statements of the 'leader' of the Gürtel, Francisco Correa, and the Entrepreneur Alfonso García-Pozuelo Asins in the trial for the first period of activities of the network (1999-2005) on the commissions paid by construction companies to obtain public awards are "relevant and useful". In this sense, the magistrate has again quoted as investigated between the 23 and 24 of March these two people and the intermediary Plácido Vázquez.

The judge heard the petitions filed by both the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office and two of the popular accusations filed in various pieces of the Gürtel plot, the IU and the Association of Democratic Lawyers for Europe (ADADE) , After hearing the testimony offered by Correa on donations paid by constructors such as OHL or ACS.

De la Mata considers that, given the contribution of these new elements of verification, it is pertinent to reopen the cause of the alleged illegal financing of the PP. Moreover, he stresses that Correa's statements, those of Garcia-Pozuelo - who took advantage of his right not to testify in the investigation - and those of the intermediary Plácido Vázquez are "relevant and useful" as well as "novel".

"It is enough to point out, as the prosecutor-Antonio Romeral- in his report, that they are the only testimonies that point to a relation between the money deliveries for the execution of public tenders, also offering a consistent report on The methodology apparently followed to 'manage' (in the terms of Correa Sánchez) the requests of the companies, and the mechanics of the distribution of the profits obtained by the commissions delivered by the companies in case of 'success' in the intended adjudication "Said the magistrate in his car.

He also recalls that the object of this investigation is to verify if there is a 'B' box of the party and if in the certain annotations in the known ones as 'Barcenas papers', 'rudimentary as it may be', reflect the "cash consideration" Obtained by the PP and certain individuals in exchange for "intercession or pressure" in order to obtain certain public works awards to the payers of illicit commissions.

COMMITTEES BETWEEN TWO AND THREE PERCENT

The leader of the plot detailed during his statement before the court of the National Court that he tried along with 36 other people that companies like OHL, ACS and Dragados appealed to their services to mediate for them before the Ministries of Development and Environment, among others. A changed, said that after intervening in the granting of "many works, neither in 10, nor in 20, nor in 30," paid commissions of between two and three percent to ex-PPP Luis Bárcenas.

"They were highways, highways, AVE works, the Environment, different ...", he explained, while saying that with this practice "saved a lot of money to the PP". "I do not know if 1,000 million or more," he said and said that he delivered the money to Bárcenas at the headquarters of the PP, Genoa Street or his house and that the former manager was in charge of managing the issue with the Ministry " corresponding".

Garcia-Pozuelo said in his speech at the trial that the fate of the money handed over to Correa were "central bodies", which - according to the accusations in his writings - referred to the Ministries of Environment and Development and To the PP, as well as that the four companies that paid commissions are OHL, ACS, Dragados and Degremont.

PETITIONS OF ACCUSATIONS AND TAXATION

In response to these allegations, last October, IU and ADADE sent written statements to the investigating judge requesting that these statements be investigated. In addition, from the subpoenas of Correa, García-Pozuelo and Vázquez, they requested that he call to declare the former president of OHL Juan Miguel Villar Mir, ex-treasurer Luis Bárcenas and businessman Rafael Palencia.

For its part, Anticorrupción was favorable to the reopening of this case in February this year and requested the hearings of the aforementioned, with the exception of Villar Mir, Bárcenas and Palencia.

Finally, the head of the Court of Instruction number 5 of the National High Court has decided to call to declare Garcia-Pozuelo investigated as of 23 March at 10 am; To Correa, the same day at 12.00; And to Vázquez, a day later at 10 am.

However, the magistrate rejects for the moment the statement of the other persons who have requested the parties, in whose car does not offer any type of motivation. It only refers to the exminister of the Environment and former president of the Balearic Government Jaume Matas, claiming that it is not known that he has given a statement to the prosecutor or another judge.

In addition, De la Mata asks the Second Section of the Criminal Chamber of the National Hearing to forward the procedure on which his predecessor Pablo Ruz agreed to end the investigation in March 2015 and asks to incorporate the statements Provided by Correa and García-Pozuelo in the oral trial for the first period of activities of the Gürtel plot.

'BOX B' FOR 18 YEARS

The instruction of the 'Barcenas Papers' concluded on March 23, 2015 when then-judge instructor Pablo Ruz, considering that it is proven that the PP "served for 18 years" - from 1990 until at least 2008-- Of several systems of accounts that recorded financial inflows and outflows of money outside the official accounts declared by the party and filed before the Court Accounts.

In a 190-page book, the judge concluded that there are "solid and well-founded indications" to bring to trial the 'popular' expropriators Luis Bárcenas and Álvaro Lapuerta - dismissed of any responsibility in the trial of Gürtel's early dementia And the former manager Cristóbal Paez for crimes against the Public Treasury and misappropriation.

Ruz considered the PP responsible civil subsidiary for the donations received in 2008 and the payment in black of 1,552,000 euros from the works of its headquarters to the company Unifica and proposed to try three other people, partners of the study of architecture Unifica, Gonzalo Urquijo and Belén García, and his employee Laura Montero, to whom he attributed, in addition to the crime against the Public Treasury, documentary misrepresentation.

This was how Francisco Correa moved
The judge pointed out that in the "indictment plan" the PP would be "responsible" for an offense against the Public Treasury for "not having filed the corporate income tax return for fiscal year 2008," since those donations, Of euros, "did not comply with the budgets, requirements and limitations, both formal and material, established in the current regulation regulating the financing of political parties."

And, he considered the expropriators of the PP "incorporated to the patrimony of the first certain funds of the political formation that were used for the subscription of shares in the capital increase of Digital Freedom".