The judge communicated this Thursday to Jose Velezhead of Murcian PSOEthe order to transform his investigation into an abbreviated procedure, a case prior to the opening of the oral trial, which places the socialist two steps away from being in the dock for the trial of the Calasparra Rice Fair. He is under investigation for administrative procrastination And embezzlement of public fundsfor having committed alleged irregularities in the management of the Calasparra bullring when he was mayor of the municipality, a position he held from 2014 until his appointment as government delegate to the Region of Murcia (2020-2023).
The president of the Court of First Instance and Investigation number 3 of Caravaca de la Cruz has thus agreed to continue the proceedings against José Vélez and the former holiday advisors Jordi Arce Corbalán and Antonio José Merino Moreno and the company administrator Chipé Productionswho are also being investigated for their alleged participation in the crimes of embezzlement and misappropriation of public funds during the organization of the bullfights at the Rice Fair.
According to the magistrate, during the three years of investigation, it was found that the Calasparra City Council systematically assumed expenses for the benefit of the administrator of the company under investigation. The amounts were allegedly paid with public money. These were: direct payments to the company for unjustified invoices, something that the City Hall would not have demanded either because they were specific expenses for the Rice Bullfighting Fair or because they were expenses related to the arenas.
“In this way, the actual disbursement made by the City Hall for the livestock transfer for the bullfighting “They significantly exceeded the prices agreed between the municipality and the company, both in the 2017 and 2018 agreements and in the minor contract of 2019,” the judge’s order states.
The trial, the order says, “proves that there are sufficient reasons to attribute his commission to the persons investigated in an indicative manner”, which is why the magistrate considered that continue to continue with the criminal procedure.
Velez will appeal
From the decision of the magistrate, the prosecution and the accused have 10 days to formulate their respective briefs in which they request either the opening of an oral trial or the dismissal of the case. José Vélez stated that will appeal to the Provincial Courtgiven that the order is not final and there is a call for reform.
The trial focuses on the legal relations between the Calasparra City Council and the company investigated for the transfer of the cattle rented for the festivities of the morning bullfight. To this end, according to the procedure, there was an agreement in 2017 in which a price of 30,000 euros at the expense of the Town Hall; another in 2018 in which it was 37,000 and a contract of less than 15,000, in 2019.
