The judge in the “Azud case” suspects Alfonso Grau, former deputy mayor of Valencia, of having received a “commission” of one million euros from a businessman in payment of a “bribe” related to eight urban planning operations, according to a document from the instructor to which elDiario.es has had access. The investigation, carried out by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, has detected movements of funds in the accounts of the JP Morgan entity in the United States linked to Grau, his daughter and her American husband.
The alleged payments, according to the investigator, were made through a Panamanian company and a Swiss bank, “as is also the tradition in this type of operation.” Furthermore, the story in the United States about Alfonso Grau “is unknown to the Spanish authorities.” The alleged corruption would be linked to the company Edinboro Investments SA, domiciled in Panama and opened between 2004 and 2013, and ultimately owned by businessman Miguel Montoro, according to the response to the letter rogatory from the Panamanian authorities.
A UCO report, which elDiario.es also had access to, highlights Grau’s manipulation of “large sums of cash” and an “unjustified” increase in assets between 2004 and 2011 of at least 728,051 euros.
Investigators from the elite unit of the Armed Institute highlight indications of a diversion to the United States, taking advantage of the fact that one of Grau’s daughters resides in the state of Wisconsin, from the “unjustified assets” of Rita Barberá’s former right-hand man, recently sentenced to four and a half years in prison in the context of the article ‘Taula Case’ in box B of the Valencia PP.
On the other hand, the UCO also alludes to an alleged operation of “cash taxes of unknown origin” in the United States.
