The president of the Generalitat Valenciana, the popular Carlos Mazón, was the general director in charge of technical controls of vehicles when the brothers José and Vicente Cotino made effective the “plot” of the ITV accredited in the “Erial Case”. The task of his department was, among other things, to carry out “monitoring and control of vehicle technical inspection points”. Under his leadership, two of the businessmen who paid commissions to Eduardo Zaplana resold the company that received the service award, thus obtaining a notable economic advantage.
The judgment of the Fourth Chamber of the Provincial Court of Valencia, which sentences former president Eduardo Zaplana to ten years in prison, proves that Aznar’s former minister and his then chief of staff received illicit commissions after intervening in the privatization award process. of ITV. Additionally, brothers Vicente and José Cotino, nephews of former councilor Juan Cotino, paid the former president commissions for the aforementioned prices and later sold their business. The company Levantina de Obras y Servicios, part of the Sedesa group, sold the ITV-winning company seven years later for 37 million euros. The Cotinos admitted to having paid commissions to Zaplana in Luxembourg and obtained a capital gain of 86 million euros between the ITV and the wind farms.
The sentence, subject to appeal, does not mention or refer to the current head of the Generalitat Valenciana, nor does it link him to the criminal acts, but it draws a timeline that coincides with the time when the current head of the Consell came to arrive at the department responsible for inspections. Carlos Mazón was appointed Director General of Commerce and Consumption in 2003 in the government of Francisco Camps. In the midst of a political battle for control of the PP, the young man from Nuevas Generaciones, supported by Eduardo Zaplana, obtained a position in the Consell chaired by his political rival. A year later, in 2004 and until 2007, he became Director General of Consumer Affairs and Industrial Safety, according to his own curriculum vitae, available on the transparency portal.
The appointment of Carlos Mazón was published in the DOGV of September 6, 2004 as Director General of Industrial Security and Consumer Affairs, Department of Commerce, University and Science. A month later, on October 1, 2004, another decree signed by Francisco Camps approved the Organic and Functional Regulations (ROF) of the Department of Commerce, University and Science, of which Mazón was general director. In this standard, which contains the responsibilities of each department, it is indicated that the General Directorate of Industrial Safety and Consumption, which Mazón occupies, is competent in “the development of regulations and action plans, the coordination and control in matters of security. “industrial and metrology”, the “preparation of studies, reports and proposals on the resolution of files, procedures, organization and management in the field of industrial safety and metrology” and in “the realization actions linked to the authorization, monitoring and control of “vehicle technical inspection” stations. In 2003, competence in matters of industrial safety depended on the General Directorate of Industry and Energy, then under the supervision of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism, without specific reference in the ROF to skills in vehicle inspection.
In 2005, Mazón, then director of Industry, assured that Valencian ITV “worked with agility”. In the information collected by The provinces On May 19, 2005, the current president and leader of the Valencian PP responded to an accusation from an association of mechanical workshops which demanded “greater rigor” in technical controls. The workshops asked for participation in the functions of the ITVs privatized eight years ago. The news refers to Mazón’s statements in which he boasts that the Valencian Community has been a “pioneer” in the integration of noise tests. This test, called into question by a report from the Valencian government, increased the price of the check between 8 and 10 euros for drivers and is one of those that causes the imbalance of prices between the autonomous communities. The Valencian government, with the popular Isabel Bonig as advisor on the matter, prepared a report which reported overcharging for tests, but a judgment of the TSJ disapproved the Consell report, in agreement with the complainant company. Mazón overthrew Bonig as president of the Valencian PP in 2021 with the support of the PP’s national leadership in Madrid’s Calle Génova, forcing the departure of the party of which he had been leader for almost two terms.
Erial’s Proven Facts
The proven facts of the “Erial Case” judgment establish a timetable of judgments, which reflects the complexity of the technical process. In July 1996, a table for the rationalization of the public sector was created, within which the Table of Contracts for ITV Awards was created, under the responsibility of Zaplana’s former chief of staff, Juan Francisco García. Different departments of the Valencian Government participated in this process.
One of the control lots, lot 1, is allocated to a union of several companies, including those of Cotino. The judgment states: “Lot 1 was awarded to UTE Valenciana de Revisiones SL, formed by the companies Servicios de Excavaciones (Asedes Capital), Levantina de Obras y Servicios (LOE) and the company Iteuve. The fee set for the award of the said lot amounts to 5,823,318.12 euros. Asedes Capital was part of the Sedesa Group, where the brothers and their uncle operated.
The judgment, in its proven facts, continues: “Levantina de Obras y Servicios (LOE) acquired all of the shares of Servicios de Excavaciones on October 8, 2002 and Servicios de Excavaciones had acquired on May 10, 2002 all of the capital shares. held by Iteuve”, then: “The resolution of October 31, 2002 of José Antonio Manteca Pérez, Secretary General of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Energy, authorized the subrogation of lot 1 to the “Valencia de Revisiones SL”.
The judgment indicates that the company Cotinos, Levantina de Obras y Servicios, of the Sedesa group, sold its shares by public deed of November 29, 2004 for 43 million euros, although it ultimately obtained 37 million. At that time, and according to the Official Gazette of the Generalitat Valenciana, Mazón had been in the responsible general management of ITV for two months, although the judicial text makes no mention of his responsibility. Neither the current president nor the department he headed are mentioned in the text of the Provincial Court of Valencia, although he holds this position. Asked about the conviction of his predecessor, the President of the Generalitat limited himself to expressing his respect for the judicial decisions. The opposition of Corts Valencianes, formed by the PSPV and Compromís, reminded Mazón of his links with Zaplana: “He is his political son”.
