The paths of the Provincial Court of Alicante are impenetrable. The last sentence of the Brugal macro-case, which acquitted the 13 defendants for allegedly rigging the Vega Baja Zonal Plan garbage contract, shows that there are decisions of the Alicante courts which, in similar cases, apply different scales, depending on the section that dictates the sentence. The third section of the Alicante Court sentenced businessman Enrique Ortiz, also convicted of illegally financing the Valencian PP, for giving the former mayor of Alicante a Carolina Herrera jacket, while the seventh section the same court acquitted the same corrupt employer. giving trips on his private yacht to the former president of the Provincial Delegation of Alicante, José Joaquín Ripoll, and his family. In the case of Ripoll, the conduct of both for the gift was not considered a crime due to “their relationship of friendship”, while in the judgment ratified by the Supreme Court against Castedo, the friendship well known between businessman and politician This was not enough and cost Enrique Ortiz a sentence because “it goes beyond what is socially accepted”. And Ripoll was as much a friend of Ortiz as Castedo, as we saw in the various trials.
The Seventh Section of the Provincial Court of Alicante recognizes in the judgment that, “during the processing of the case, in 2008, taking advantage of their presence at the Seville Fair, Enrique Ortiz invited José Joaquín Ripoll and his wife with another group of people known for having a drink on their boat. In other words, the winning businessman invited one of the key people of the prize and his family on his boat. But the distributions did not end during the prize award period. “Similarly,” the judgment states, “between August 6 and 9, 2008, Enrique Ortiz and José Joaquín Ripoll met on the boat Elena, owned by Enrique Ortiz, during a stay in the Balearic Islands. Rafael G. and his wife and José Joaquín Ripoll with his wife and their daughters went to the said boat, where the family of Enrique Ortiz was already present, as well as that of his brother.
The following year, the vacation took place without Ortiz, but on his yacht. “Subsequently, between August 27 and 30, 2009, José Joaquín Ripoll and his wife, Rafael G. and his wife and a third couple were also in the Balearic Islands on a boat belonging to Enrique Ortiuz that he gave them , being “the only expense for Enrique Ortiz is fuel and moorings. The Court forgets to count the cost of renting a boat estimated at millions of euros that the former president of the Provincial Deputation of Alicante would have cost.
After recounting the proven facts, the court concludes in the judgment that “it has not been proven that these trips were carried out with the intention of influencing the conduct of José Joaquín R. in the processing of the Plan file of Zone, but rather that the invitations They were carried out on the basis of the relationship of friendship between the families of Ripoll, Ortiz and G.”.
On the contrary, the donation of the Carolina Herrera brand jacket to Castedo cost Enrique Ortiz his second final conviction. It was at Christmas 2008 (at the same time as his first trip to the Principality of Andorra), “because of the relationships established between him, in his capacity as an urban planning entrepreneur, and some of the local authorities”, according to the facts of the sentence confirmed by the TS. Ortiz’s defense appeal alleged that he was convicted of a crime of improper active bribery, despite the fact that between the giver and the recipient of the gift (and between their families) “there existed a relationship of close and long-standing friendship. “. He also claimed that the Carolina Herrera jacket was delivered over Christmas but coinciding with Sonia Castedo’s birthday on December 23. Neither the third section nor the Supreme Court used this friendly relationship between families to condemn the businessman.
Alperi was indeed convicted for the gifts
The former mayor of Alicante Luis Díaz Alperi had less luck with the court, who was also fined 6,000 euros, for the offense of abusive corruption, and Ortiz was fined 18,000 euros. The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court (TS) accepted the appeal of the former PP mayor, thus acquitting Díaz Alperi for statute of limitations. However, the High Court rejected the businessman’s appeal and upheld the fine.
The sentence, as this newspaper has already reported, after analyzing the evidence collected, concludes that it has not been proven “the existence of an agreement between the accused to modify or manipulate the council’s agreements, nor that None of the accused offered or accepted gifts intended to obtain a resolution from the consortium which favors them.
Likewise, the magistrates found no evidence that the defendants influenced or attempted to influence members of the Vega Baja Waste Consortium “that benefited them” or that they “revealed file data that harmed the outcome of the procedure. » .
What is striking about this interpretation of friendship is that a politician responsible for a reward process can receive gifts from a businessman who enters the competition and ultimately wins. They can pay you for weekends on a yacht or even lend you their boat for your personal pleasure. Friendship can do anything.
