“We are facing a town hall unworthy of an administration of the importance and entity of the Junta de Andalucía“and whose damage to public coffers “contributes to a profound deterioration of public confidence in the probity of institutions and in the very reality of the rule of law.” With this force, the third section of the Provincial Court of Seville justifies the condemnation of two years and six months in prison for crimes of misappropriation and embezzlement of public funds to a businessman who ran the company Tartessos Car SL, a dealership dedicated to the sale of automobiles and light motor vehicles in Huelva, who received irregular aid of 300,000 euros during the government phase of the PSOE. In addition, it also imposes the payment of compensation to the Junta de Andalucía in the total amount of 561,156.73 euros.
The novelty of this judgment, which affects a distinct aspect of the ERE affair, is that it represents a modification of the entire action of the regional government in granting subsidies to companies in crisis. “It was not subject to any regulation, the money being granted as a gift without any procedure without which the Administration“He simply cannot act,” says the Seville court.
This is the first resolution issued against a businessman benefiting from aid after the progressive majority of the Constitutional Court annulled the judgments of the Provincial Court of Seville and the Supreme Court for the specific aid procedure by which Former senior socialist officials in the Andalusian government were convicted, including former presidents Manuel Chaves and José Antonio Griñán. From this judgment, the PSOE saved the symbolic figure of Chaves and went so far as to deny the very existence of fraud in the aid system. Chaves, greeted by socialist leaders at the party’s regional headquarters in Seville, described the ERE affair as “a political and media operation in judicial garb mounted by the PP, which had a single objective, to expel the PSOE from the Junta de la Andalucia. “.
“It is not a question of whether the system of granting aid within the Council was defective or not.which was the work of the specific procedure and the subject of the judgments of the Constitutional Court. The fact is that the specific aid provided for in the case examined was illicit, not because it did not comply with one or another regulation, which also; but because it was not subject to any regulation”, warns the judgment of the Third Section notified to the parties this Wednesday.
“In this room Money is given freely without the slightest hesitation and that’s where it all ends.“, blames the court, which maintains that “it is not understood that such aid is granted to a company known to be in danger of bankruptcy and that there is not the slightest shadow of the viability which would have was promoted by the Plan as part of which the fraud scheme.
There was no procedure or procedure, something “unthinkable”
“It is clear that there was no procedure or follow-up of administrative formalities, which is unthinkable for anyone an award of subsidies or any public financial assistance», affirms the room. He emphasizes that in this distinct part of the ERE affair, “there is not even the undoubtedly effective precaution, which was taken in other similar documents, consisting of constructing the case backwards”, it is i.e. “to grant aid first, without further delay”. , like here, then request documents from the beneficiary or have them fill out forms to build a fantastic case that would somehow cover up the illegal action.
In short, for the magistrates, in this case “illicit aid is carried out in a crude and profane manner with the use of public funds for purposes which were suitable without any administrative procedure and in favor of someone who is not entitled to it because he does not meet any conditions.
